Pretty Lies
by tromana
Summary: Falling alone is scary. Dragging someone down with you, even moreso. Jane/Lisbon. For lil smiles. Complete.
1. Glitter

**A/N: **So this is for lil smiles, who asked for it in a LiveJournal meme. She asked for (and I quote) 'a crazy two-headed angst monster', so I'd take that as a warning. Now I just need to finish Catch before I can do the second part of this!

x tromana

* * *

**Title:** Pretty Lies  
**Author:** tromana  
**Rating:** T  
**Characters:** Jane/Lisbon, Team  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine.  
**Summary:** Falling alone is scary. Dragging someone down with you, even moreso.  
**Spoilers: **Up to 2x08 His Red Right Hand  
**Notes:** written for lil smiles in a LiveJournal prompt meme. Prompt: "I'm not worth saving."

_Title and lyrics from "Pretty Lies" from Boy George's Taboo._

**Pretty Lies**

**Part One - Glitter**

_A little bit of glitter goes a long, long way,  
But if you never see my face,  
How do you know if what you feel is real?_

Slowly, carefully and without him even realizing what he was doing, his fingers curled around, balling into a fist. He'd been so close, so damn close to Red John this time around. Barely even a hair's breadth away and still the elusive serial killer managed to slip between the cracks yet again. He focused on the wall, drew his arm back and automatically sent his fist flying into it with a surprising amount of dexterity for someone who shied away from physical exertion. Jane bitterly ignored the loud crack of bone shattering and the sudden, sharp pain that enveloped his digits immediately after they came into contact with the hard surface. Instead, he glared at the wall and the still-damp blood red smiley staring back at him, taunting him with its leering grin.

He barely noticed when Teresa Lisbon came careering around the corner. Her gun was drawn and she was frantic in her urge to catch up the serial killer and more importantly, Jane. The rest of the team hot on her heels, suddenly filling the dusty room with a cacophony of noise. Her voice had grown hoarse from barking orders all day long and were Jane more aware of those around him, he'd have realized that she was close to breaking point.

But he didn't because he was so close to it himself.

The moment that she knew that the location was safe and secure, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief and ordered everyone to stand down while holstering her own gun. Tentatively, she approached Jane, immediately recognizing his expression. He was falling back into his own world, the one where he tortured himself for his shortcomings and almost forget that there was anybody in the world that cared for him. Quickly, she held up a hand and dismissed the rest of the team to scour the rest of the cobwebbed building. Nobody, excepting themselves or the killer, had been in this abandoned warehouse for years so she was quietly hopeful that they could find something new. As Van Pelt and Cho shuffled around the dead body and out of the room, Lisbon went to place a hand on Jane's shoulder. Her fingers barely grazed his cotton-mix suit jacket before she jerked her hand away, almost as if she had received an electric shock.

After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, he slowly turned away from the wall and from Red John's calling card, his symbol, to face Lisbon. He hated the look on her face because he saw it every single time the serial killer went on a killing spree. However genuine her emotions were, he couldn't cope with her pity as it made the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach all the worse. Whatever she believed, he didn't deserve her feeling so sorry for him; he had brought all the events leading up to and following the death of his family on himself. Unfortunately, for a woman who was generally a pessimist, she liked to see the best in the people she deigned worthy of it and for some unfathomable reason, he appeared to fit snugly into that category.

"I should have saved Rachel. I should have been here," he spoke bitterly. "I should have got him."

"Let me take a look at your hand," she pleaded, stubbornly ignoring his statements while looking him up and down. Jane glanced away, unable to cope with her penetrating gaze.

He shied away from her despite the fact that her tone was soothing and gentle. Care was one thing he just couldn't cope with right now. But just as he expected, she was persistent and refused to leave him be. She dragged him outside and sat him down on the bench opposite the warehouse, allowing Cho to look around the room they'd been occupying. With the tender touch of a mother dealing with an injured toddler she took hold of his broken hand, allowing her fingers to skitter over the shattered bones while she tried to work out the severity of the damage. She knew that he'd need to visit a hospital as soon as possible and that persuading him that it would be a wise idea would be a challenge and she was right. Jane was sulking and petulant for the entire trip to the ER. As far as he was concerned, they were wasting time. There were deaths to avenge and they could still catch up with Red John this time around. He could still exact his revenge.

So long ago now, Minelli had remarked that they were getting 'too close'. At the time, he'd dismissed it as utter nonsense and had only thought of the statement in terms of relating directly to the case, rather than themselves as individuals. Of course he knew Lisbon well, she had rarely caused him problems when it came to reading her and that meant it was relatively easy to keep her at arm's length. However, as a nurse fussed over his hand, bandaging it tightly, he watched her as she nervously watched him, her hands twisting and turning in her lap at a frenetic rate. Neither of them flinched under the heavy gaze of one another, but it did have Jane thinking. Maybe the old director had had a point. As time progressed, she had been treating him less like a colleague and more a friend. Possibly even something else, even if she wasn't aware of it herself.

Had the petite brunette really fallen in love with the façade he'd been wearing in order to make it easier for him to face the world?

And if she had, would she love what was simmering underneath the surface all the same?

That was if he could cope with loving someone who wasn't his wife at all. He knew that he'd be lying to himself if he said he had no feelings whatsoever for Lisbon. It wasn't as if she was anything special, not really, but somehow she had managed to worm her way underneath his well-crafted exterior without knowing. Somehow, he couldn't help but think it was safer that way. He'd only hurt her and if he didn't, he would be placing her directly in Red John's spotlight, even moreso than she was already considering she was lead agent once more in his investigation.

It was safer for the both of them as long as he remained the loneliest man in the world.

"C'mon," she muttered, extending a shy hand when the nurse had finished her ministrations. "Let's get back to work. See if the others have any leads."

"They won't have," he assured her.

With a sigh, she looked into his mournful eyes and Jane couldn't help but feel guilty for toying with her emotions. But it wasn't his fault, he hadn't asked her to feel anything for him, other than sheer irritation whenever he made her job more difficult. Still, he nodded and eventually accepted her proffered hand, allowing her to lead him back to the SUV. Even though he was skeptical about her claims for new evidence, new leads, it wasn't as if he had anywhere better to go. So, as she drove sedately, he remained mute and allowed her to get on with it.

"Boss," Van Pelt approached her tentatively the moment that they walked into the bullpen. "We have something."

Lisbon raised an eyebrow at Jane, who shrugged his shoulders at her. Maybe he had been a bit quick to write off Lisbon's statement at the hospital. But still, it meant that it was something that Red John wanted them to know and therefore they had to tread carefully while unraveling these clues. He pulled up a seat in front of Van Pelt's desk, immediately offering it to the brunette agent and opted to perch on the corner of her desk instead.

When the rookie played the message she had received to them, Jane couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. And by the looks of it, neither could Lisbon.

They made her play it to them a good dozen times before leaving for the privacy of Lisbon's office. Van Pelt was unsurprised by their quiet withdrawal; Red John had name-dropped both of them directly, leaving them both rattled. The serial killer knew exactly how to press both their buttons, leaving the younger woman sincerely concerned for the safety of her boss and their consultant. Ever since Bosco's death and them having the case reassigned to them, she had been concerned that any of them could be Red John's next target. With a sigh, she shut down her laptop and headed towards the elevator, relieved to be finished for the night. She needed to find Rigsby, to make sure that he knew that she loved him and that if anything happened to him because of their careers, she'd be devastated. Before she pressed the button to close the doors, she glanced in the direction of Lisbon's office and offered a quick prayer that they would be able to find the right answer to their dilemma.

"What do we do?"

To ask the question, Lisbon lifted her head from the desk, where she had been trying to pretend that this just wasn't happening. Jane remained expressionless, but knew exactly what he believed they needed to do. The only problem would be persuading her that this was the correct cause of action.

"I go, alone."

"What? No. You can't go on your own, Jane."

"Why not? He said I have to," he spoke with a firm tone, implying that this was non-negotiable. "It's not as if I have anything to live for."

"Don't ever say that," she hissed and poked him roughly in the chest. "You have…"

"Just stop it," he interrupted, "I know what you're trying to do _Saint_ Teresa, but you need to accept that some people are just lost causes."

"Jane…"

He held up a hand, cutting her off.

"I'm not worth saving."

**TBC…**


	2. Lonely

**A/N: **First things first, I have some fist-shaking to do. *shakes fist at lil smiles, Divinia Serit, Divinia Serit's Mum and Dianne Pilkington* Why? lil smiles gave me the prompt, Divinia Serit discussed some of her Mum's theories with me and Dianne Pilkington sang Pretty Lies in Taboo and thus, they're all responsible for what was originally only a two-shot going out of control. It all makes sense really.

Oh, yes. If it wasn't obvious. I am back and am just getting back into the swing of things writing-wise. *waves*

Thank you to: Frogster, WildDaisies10, UnbreakBroken, Penelope Louise, ximaginex, wisher93, Famous4it, yaba, 0meltingsnow0, mtm, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, Divinia Serit, Chiisana Minako, Viktorija, macisgate, lil smiles and ch9777 for reviewing part one. (Especially so to Shelli and Shelly who I accidentally forgot to mention before Shelly kicked me. I'm sorry!!)

I have a lot of multiparters on the go now. I hope to keep them all rolling. We'll see what happens, I've said this kind of thing before...

x tromana

* * *

**Part Two - Lonely**

_I'm the loneliest girl in the world_

_One Week Earlier_

"How did you do that?"

Lisbon stared at Jane with demanding eyes as he held up his hands in a non-threatening gesture. It was rare that she ever let him show her magic tricks so he was making the most of the moment and enjoying himself thoroughly. With a sly grin, he raised his eyebrows cheekily at her and her frown deepened in response as she tried desperately to work out how he had managed to move the screwed up piece of paper from one mug to the other without appearing to touch it. There had to be some kind of wire or another piece of paper or something involved and naturally, Jane wasn't telling. Sometimes, she really hated his sleight of hand and was fairly certain that was one of the things involved with this piece of trickery.

"I would tell you, but…"

"There's no such thing as magical assassins, Jane," she interrupted, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back in her chair.

"How do you know that?"

"Because the mere idea of them is ridiculous."

"Just because they sound ridiculous, doesn't mean it's not true. A giraffe would seem absurd to people who had never seen or heard of one before but…"

Jane trailed off as he realized that he had lost her attention by the time he got to the word 'giraffe'. Instead, she was staring at Van Pelt, who looked unsure as to whether or not she should enter Lisbon's office at all. As the consultant trailed off, the red head approached, holding a manila file that had obviously just been given to her by the interim boss. Wordlessly, she handed it over to Lisbon, who immediately starting flicking through the paper with interest.

"It's a Red John?"

"Yes."

"I thought we weren't getting Red John back?" Lisbon mused, "I thought Grainger was getting him..."

"So did I. Rigsby is getting out the rest of the files," she paused, slightly nervous about the rest of her query. "Can I come…"

Lisbon knew where Van Pelt was going with her question and after a little thought, nodded in response. The rookie had been working very hard of late and deserved the break. Going to a Red John crime scene was never going to do her any harm, she had been to a couple before and if anything, a relatively fresh set of eyes could theoretically help, not that Lisbon really believed that she would have anything new to add. Sending Van Pelt out of her office and asking her to shut the door behind her, she looked at Jane who had fallen unsurprisingly silent. Sometimes, she just wished she could understand what was going on behind the mask, especially whenever Red John was around. As always, Jane was frustratingly withdrawn and she just wished that she could make him understand that she was there for him, regardless of whether he wanted her to be or not.

"So, Red John."

"It's what I wanted," he replied, sounding hollow.

"No more agents in the line of fire."

"Except you."

"And the team."

"Yeah."

"C'mon, we have a crime scene to look at," Lisbon sighed and Jane stood up. "You never know, we might get lucky this time around."

"You don't really believe that, do you?"

"I have to."

Jane shrugged and walked through the door that Lisbon was holding open for him. Once Lisbon informed the inhabitants of the bullpen, Rigsby was fuming at the idea of being left behind again as Cho put away a puzzle book and picked up his car keys, ready to go to whatever destination he was told to. Considering the situation they found themselves in, Van Pelt was overly exuberant, but she often was whenever given the opportunity to work in the field rather than man the phones. After she had finished dishing out her instructions, Cho disappeared down to the parking lot almost immediately while the rest of them gathered together a few more bits and pieces that would be required. Once Jane and Van Pelt were seated in the van, Lisbon started the ignition quietly. She was worried about Jane. Well, she almost always was worried about him one way or another, but now she was particularly concerned.

As Lisbon drove in a tense silence, Van Pelt stared out of the window. She appeared to be day-dreaming while watching as scenery passed by, but in reality, she was deep in thought. She hated the sorry scenario she had found herself caught in but couldn't blame anyone for it. Well anyone except from him, but that was the exception. She glanced at her cell phone and the message she had received shortly before handing the file over to Lisbon. _'Check the scene is clean for me' _was all it had said and she had known immediately what it had meant. The red head was simply relieved that Lisbon had agreed to let her come at all. Last time, when she hadn't managed to get down there before the rest of the team, she had been reminded about who she owed her life to. If her Dad hadn't stood up to him she wouldn't be here and neither would her mother. It seemed that even serial killers could have a heart, when he allowed her Mom to live simply because she was pregnant.

Only problem was, her entire life has been dictated by the serial killer.

Even now, while fighting against crime and injustices, she was under _his_ thumb.

And if she even dared breathe a word to Lisbon, she'd be dead. As would her Mom, Dad, brother and probably the entirety of the SCU, knowing what this beast of a man was like. It didn't help that he had an obsession with Patrick Jane, either. Nor that the bastard was trying to eradicate as many links to his identity as physically possible.

Van Pelt hated being a pawn in Red John's games, but as far as she was concerned, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

She just had to suffer through it, alone; she couldn't risk the lives of those she had grown to care about so much.

As they pulled up at a rather shabby apartment complex, Van Pelt jolted out of her reverie. The journey had been strangely silent and still, as they all piled out of the vehicle and met up with Cho, who had arrived five minutes earlier. While the others were busy with the coroner, Van Pelt slipped through the door and into the crime scene. Her expert eyes slid across the view, settling for a split second on the smiley face daubed on the wall. Quickly, she replied to the message, confirming that everything was fine and when Lisbon slipped in behind her, she slipped her cell phone back into her pocket.

"Not pretty, is it?"

"No, Boss."

Lisbon nodded as she brushed past Van Pelt and the younger woman couldn't help but wonder at the irony of calling the brunette her boss. While most of the time she respected Lisbon's authority, on cases involving Red John, she had to answer to somebody else instead.

"Go look around the house. See what you can find."

"What, like cell phone, laptop, that kind of thing?"

"Yes, Van Pelt," Lisbon replied wearily, obviously not in the mood for being messed around.

As Van Pelt left, with Cho close behind, automatically knowing to keep an eye on her. Once she had finished inspecting the body, she glanced up at Jane who was looking down at the deceased woman, with a harrowed look on his features. Normally, he could look at the crime scenes objectively, but there was something different about the way he was looking at this one.

"You know her."

"I _think_ I know her."

"From?"

"Before my… before."

"Ah," Lisbon replied, processing the information. "A client?"

"Yes."

"Does this client have a name?"

"Hope Lovett."

"And how certain are you…"

"Ninety-five…"

"Mom!"

A petite woman, with her dark hair partially obscuring her face, roughly elbowed Jane out of the way with a sharp glare and came to a halt beside Lisbon. Folding her arms and glaring, she stared at both Jane and Lisbon as if they was responsible for her mother's death and waited impatiently for someone to start speaking to her. Jane hummed slightly, rocking back on his heels as he recognized the young woman before him. Admittedly, the last time he had seen her, she had been surly, sniping and had scowled as her mother gave him that final check for a hefty fee.

"Make that one hundred percent certain now."

"This is a crime scene," Lisbon stated snappishly, "please could you leave the room?"

"But that's my Mom."

"Yeah, I got that. And you are?"

"Rachel. Rachel Lovett."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Rachel," Lisbon responded, sounding more irritated than sincere. "Would you be willing to come down to CBI headquarters to discuss your mother's death?"

"I'm not under arrest, am I?"

"You're not."

"Okay then."

After asking Rachel to return to CBI headquarters with Cho and Van Pelt, Lisbon finished off dealing with everything necessary at the scene. Jane remained stock still, staring at the smiley, entirely lost in thought. When he felt a small hand on his shoulder, he jumped slightly and turned to face a particularly concerned looking Lisbon.

"Before you ask, I have absolutely no idea why Red John would prey on my ex-clients or what the link is between him and Hope Lovett," he said, rather snappishly and Lisbon looked quite taken aback at his abrupt manner. "I've been trying to work it out."

"I was actually going to ask if you were okay."

"Oh."

"Come on, let's get back," she continued, nudging him gently with her shoulder. "Rachel may know something useful."

**TBC…**


	3. Hurt

**A/N: **Right, so I gave Rach the choice between an update of this or Unbound and she chose this. Apparently, that's a selfish decision, but I'm not so sure. Anyway, I'll be working on the next chapter of Game, Set, Match next as I need to get that done before the end of the month. Really, I should learn to stop writing multiparters for the Jello Forever challenge. My muse is a cruel, cruel thing.

Thanks to: Divinia Serit, lil smiles, Cora Clavia, 0meltingsnow0, WildDaisies10, Frogster, HOUSEMDFanForever, yaba, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, Famous4it, mtm, Koezh, ch19777 and Viktorija for reviewing part two.

I'm also sorry that this took so long to update. I have a feeling that with most my multiparters in general, that that is a running theme though. Oops.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Three - Hurt**

_If you see all the hurt in my eyes  
__Will you love, will you run, will you carry me?_

Rachel had never been the crying type. Crying didn't bring people back from the dead. It hadn't helped when her adoptive Dad had died. She'd loved the man as if he were her real father and he might as well have been, for she had never bothered to find out who had actually fathered her. It was such a pointless waste of life as well; he'd died in a hospital bed after complications from a supposedly routine operation. After shedding a few tears, she had quickly realised the futility in her emotions and instead, became angry. Rather like she was now. Some bastard had killed her Mom and instead of sympathy, she'd had some snippy cop lady ship her off to Sacramento with a silent Asian man and a young red-headed woman who couldn't hold her gaze for more than two seconds. Apparently the blond, or Jane, as the bossy woman kept barking at him, had some crackpot theory and wanted to spend a little longer scouring her Mom's apartment. So she was stuck, feeling rather uncomfortable between two more prickly cops for a nice, long car ride to Sacramento.

Would it hurt people just to give her a few answers for a change, rather than hiding secrets within secrets? Although she hadn't been given any answers, at least she'd been given some food. Almost as soon as she was placed in the interrogation room, despite it having been made explicitly clear that she wasn't actually under arrest, a tall man flashed her the friendliest smile she'd seen all day and offered her something to eat. As they shared some food, Agent Rigsby, as she found out he was called, offered his condolences and kept assuring her that 'the boss' and Jane shouldn't keep her waiting for too much longer.

She was almost disappointed when the brunette agent who was responsible for sending her to Sacramento and Jane walked in the room. Rachel had been enjoying herself, talking with Rigsby. It had distracted her from the overwhelming sense of grief developing in the pit of her stomach, at least and he had been so very friendly. And now, she had to cope with incessant questions about the very incident, bringing it right back to the forefront of her mind. Agent Lisbon sat in front of her, opening the manila folder and spreading out a few sheets of interest before lacing her fingers and staring at Rachel intently. Jane dragged a chair and sat between them, seemingly not happy to take one side of the table or the other. The blond haired man smiled softly at Lisbon, then Rachel before the informal questioning started.

xxx

Van Pelt jumped as she felt a strong set of arms wrap around her shoulders. She'd been updating her… contact… on the situation and she hadn't expected anyone in the bullpen for a good five minutes. It was why she was risking it at work, e-mailing him, letting him know that they were talking to Rachel Lovett. Because if she didn't let Red John know the smallest of details about the case as it progressed, not only would her head be on the proverbial chopping block but so would her mother and father's. Quickly, she shut down her e-mail inbox before wheeling around to glare at Rigsby. They'd promised Lisbon that they would keep it out of the office and make sure that it appeared that nothing romantic was going on between them. Van Pelt took her promises very, very seriously because the damage that could be caused otherwise was simply unbearable to think about.

"Hey babe, what are you up to?"

"E-mailing my Mom," she lied promptly, wishing that she would blush faintly. It was funny how these things always happened when you didn't want them to and when you did, it was virtually impossible.

"I thought she didn't know how to turn on a computer?"

"She's learning," Van Pelt explained while fiddling with her hair. "And not here, we promised Lisbon."

"She's busy with Jane and the Lovett girl and Cho's having a progress report with the new boss," Rigsby answered, hoping that it would appease her. "There's nobody around to catch us out."

"That's not the point."

"Fine."

"Good. Great."

Sulking, Rigsby skulked over to his desk and immediately picked up a list of potential addresses for Red John's hideout. He didn't believe for a second that any of them would house the serial killer, but Lisbon had insisted that he found out who owned them to see if anything intriguing popped out. Barely focusing on the task in hand, he absent-mindedly scribbled down the various names of owners of each and every property. It was on the fifth when he paused, somewhat confused as to why that specific name was coming up.

"Hey, Van Pelt," Rigsby called out, somewhat surprised. "This one belongs to Minelli."

"It must be a mistake. Are you sure you wrote it in correctly?"

Leaning over his shoulder, she typed in the search parameters once again, only for Minelli's name to jump out at them once again. Frowning, Van Pelt repeated the action. This was ridiculous. She may not have known _who_ Red John was exactly, but she certainly didn't suspect the ex-director of the CBI. The very concept was just wrong.

"Perhaps Lisbon got the address mixed up with the others?" Van Pelt suggested. "I know she wanted to be able to write to him for advice from time to time."

"Yeah, that must be it," Rigsby replied, sincerely hoping that she was right.

xxx

"She's hiding something."

"Yes, I know that," Lisbon snapped as she took a sip of water.

Shaking her head, she softened her gaze. She was aware of the way she was treating Jane, but she couldn't help it. Red John just got to her. He got to all of them. Was this what Minelli had meant when he said they were getting 'too close'? Maybe he was right, maybe her judgment had grown somewhat clouded. But if it had, she didn't have much choice. She had to work this case because there was nobody else who could and she wasn't willing to shunt it onto someone else and put them in the line of fire. Besides, she thought she was beginning to understand why Jane was so consumed by the very idea of revenge. Ever since Bosco, who was merely a friend and mentor to her, had died, she had barely been able to think straight when it came to the notorious serial killer. While she couldn't agree with Jane's idea of murder to solve his problems, she did agree that he needed closure - they both did - and therefore, she was willing to stick it out with him.

"If I put-"

"No."

"No?"

"That's what I said."

"What do you mean by no? You don't even know what I was going to say."

"You were going to say 'if I put her in a light trance.' No hypnotism, Jane."

"No, I wasn't."

"You were."

"Alright, I was, but it would make things easier. She'd be less inclined to close up to us."

"It's also illegal."

"Meh, that's a mere technicality."

"No, it isn't."

Cho cleared his voice, interrupting the pair from their argument. After his meeting with the boss, he'd been going through the computer files on the laptop that had belonged to Hope Lovett. It seemed that the woman had kept a digital diary with some rather interesting allegations. After an apology to Rachel, Lisbon dragged Cho and Jane into her office to allow him to explain just what he had discovered. Lisbon's face fell and Jane's morphed into an expression of disgust as Cho explained how the woman had detailed finding out that her lover was a criminal, that she was pregnant and her suspicions that the father of her child was Red John.

"And we found the hair samples," Lisbon interjected. "If we can get her to agree to a DNA test…"

"There's the DNA sample we collected from the Harlow case too."

"What's the point?" Jane replied lightly. "All it'll do is confirm that the DNA is from the same source."

"It'll confirm that her father is Red John," Lisbon replied. "And then we can run it against the DNA database and we can see if any of our known criminals are Red John."

"We've done that before. Nothing sprung up."

"The sample from the Harlow case was poor, so this will help," Lisbon interjected, snapping slightly at Jane's skepticism. "Besides, the database is changing all the time."

"She'll never agree to it anyway."

"She might if Rigsby asks."

xxx

Rigsby was apprehensive as he entered the room alone. He knew that Jane and Lisbon had already entered the observation room and were staring through the one-way mirror with interest. Rachel looked like she was bored out of her skull, something which he found entirely unsurprising. At the moment, she was being asked questions sporadically, with people just dashing in and out for five minutes, then leaving her alone for long expanses of time. Personally, he thought it was very unfair on the young woman, they should have got this over and done with ages ago and left her alone so she could grieve for her mother in peace.

And now it was his job to bother her for something she was liable to refuse.

Still, he sat in front of her and offered her a warm smile, which she reciprocated and a soda. After a quick discussion about the pros and cons of various brands of cola, he brought out Mrs. Lovett's laptop and showed Rachel the details where her mother had essentially stated that the young woman's father was Red John. From being rather animated and cheerful, all things considered, she suddenly became very withdrawn and hollow. Her Mom hadn't told her anything about the man who had fathered her and it came as something of a shock to see what her mother had meticulously typed up. Technically, it didn't matter who her biological father was, because in her opinion, nurture was so much more important than nature. But still, she had a potential link to a serial killer and that sickened her.

"Would you be willing to take a paternity test?" Rigsby asked plaintively. "It would really help us if we could compare your DNA to a couple of other potential samples we have."

"What? No," Rachel spluttered, feeling rather indignant. "No, I can't do that."

**TBC…**


	4. Absurd

**A/N: **Look at me and all this writing. I think it's because I'm feeling slightly better since that mother of all migraines. Okay, I lie. It wasn't quite as bad as the month long one I had in the Summer, but it was still pretty damn close. Anyway, it feels good to get back to this and Unbound... speaking of which, those who read Unbound, I have an update of that on the way too. I did say I had been rather productive over the weekend. *grins*

Thank you to: Koezh, lil smiles, Viktorija, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, Divinia Serit, yaba, Ebony10, NellietheMarvelous, Famous4it, mtm, phoenixmagic1, WildDaisies10 and boutondor for reviewing part three. I can't say often enough just how much it means to me.

Anyway, enough rambling. I shouldn't be here. But ugh... walking in the snow. Again. Boo.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Four - Absurd**

_If I tell you that I'm weak and I'm scared  
__Will that seem absurd?_

Lisbon let her head strike her desk once, twice and then a third and final time. The only reason she stopped was because her door creaked open and she knew she was being observed. It was strange, but even without looking, she somehow knew it was Jane's eyes boring into her rather than anyone else's. Mainly, it was because she knew that nobody else would walk into her office without knocking. Everyone else in the building had heard of boundaries and respect, two lessons that Jane had failed to be taught by a responsible adult. Naturally, Lisbon was trying to instill the two habits into the consultant, but thus far, it seemed like it was a hapless task. A leopard couldn't change its spots, after all.

"You know, hitting your head against your desk isn't going to do any good," Jane remarked and she eventually glanced up to see a smirk dancing across his features. "You're destroying your brain cells and I'm pretty sure you need them to do your job."

"Thanks for the advice," she replied, her tone dry. "I was hoping that I'd wake up and everything would be back to normal and we wouldn't be having problems with Red John's love child."

Jane eyed the chair in front of her desk and deciding that it wasn't appropriate for his needs, pushed it aside and pulled another one up instead. Resting his arms on Lisbon's desk and his head on his hands, Jane watched the petite woman opposite him and she just rolled her eyes in irritation. A year or so ago, she would have squirmed uncomfortably under his heavy gaze, but obviously she had grown used to his kind of observation. That, in itself, was an interesting fact. Normally, it took people longer than that to grow immune to his gaze, but then again, he did spend a lot of time with her and irritating her had become a daily pastime for him. Perhaps being around him so intensively had aided her on that front?

"You don't really believe that, do you?" he queried, eyes ablaze. "That Red John had a child? And that that child is Rachel?"

"Why not?" she countered, her gaze equally fiery. "He's a man, Jane. He has passions, he has weaknesses. Why couldn't Rachel's mother be one of those weaknesses?"

"It would mean he'd left a direct DNA link to himself at the scene of one of his crimes. He's too careful for that."

"The only reason there's a link at all is because Rachel's mother is the one that died. If she hadn't been killed by him, there would be no link."

"She'd just be any old young woman without a father."

"Jane…" she replied warningly, thoroughly unimpressed with such a low blow.

"But why link the Lovett death to the rest of his murders?" Jane persisted, ignoring the hurt present in her eyes. "Why now?"

"To mock us? Because he didn't think we'd make the link? Because he didn't think that his victim had written that diary?"

"That's just guesswork."

"Having some theories is better than none at all," she snapped, feeling somewhat frustrated at their lack of progress over the past couple of days. "Besides, isn't that pretty much what _you_ do with every other case?"

"You wound me."

"It's no lower than you sink."

"You're angry. I'll leave you to calm down."

"You do that."

"I will."

"Jane?" she called as he headed towards the door, relieved that he actually listened to her for a change. "Do something useful for a change instead of lazing on that couch."

"I do all my best theorizing on that couch."

"Bullshit. See if you can track down any friends or relatives of Hope Lovett who were around her when Rachel was conceived."

"Surely Van Pelt would be better at that?"

"Get her to help you then."

"Fine."

xxx

Cho was getting a little fed up of this wild goose chase that Lisbon had sent him and Rigsby on. Of course, he'd never complain out loud about it, it wasn't his place to decide what leads were important to follow up and what ones weren't. Running around, dealing with little details that weren't important enough for her to focus on was his job, after all. But still, it was somewhat tiresome. The moment Rigsby had presented her with the list of names and addresses, including Minelli's, Lisbon had sent the pair of them to go and question each and every person named, including Minelli. So far, they'd come across a harried housewife who had never even heard of Red John and was too busy trying to keep her hyperactive triplets under control. Then there was an elderly gentleman who was going deaf and an exhausted nurse who had just come off the night shift at a local hospital. None of them appeared to have any links to the serial killer and all of them were somewhat irritated by the disturbance.

Now, as he tried to distract himself in the science fiction thriller he'd borrowed from the library most recently, Rigsby was driving them to Virgil Minelli's address. He hoped that the ex-director would still be at home; if _he'd _just retired, Cho knew that he would be living the high life, taking in as many sights and sounds as he could while he was still mobile. For Minelli, that probably meant playing golf on as many different golf courses as feasibly possible. It was obvious that the man had a very soft spot for the sport and it was one thing that he wouldn't be willing to sacrifice for a very long while. Cho didn't blame the man. He played it every so often and though it had initially seemed like a pointless exercise, the Asian agent could now see how relaxing it could be and he now chose to partake in a round or two whenever he had a free weekend.

"Why are we going to Minelli's, anyway?"

Cho closed his book firmly as Rigsby broke the silence. There was no point in continuing to force himself to read, he wasn't getting anywhere and there was only so many times you could read the same sentence. Asimov may have been a rather fascinating author but really, he'd just have wait until later, when his mind was clear enough to focus on the printed word.

"Because the boss said so."

"Yeah, but, it's Minelli. There's no way…" Rigsby trailed off. "This is pointless."

"He might be able to help with some of the details," Cho shrugged, rather annoyed with Rigsby's incessant questioning. "We can ask him for his opinion on the case."

"I guess," Rigsby muttered as they pulled up on Minelli's drive.

Minelli looked somewhat bemused to see a rather nervous Cho and Rigsby standing on his doorstep. Still, he graciously opened the door wide for the pair and invited them into his family home, immediately apologizing for the mess. Just as he did so, a four year old boy came running around the corner and immediately clung to Cho's leg, much to his disgust. Smiling slightly, Minelli extracted the child from Cho's pants and held him gently in his arms. A look of pride flashed across his features as the boy buried his face into the crook of his grandfather's neck. It was a soft expression that neither of the agents were familiar with seeing on the ex-director's face, but it was hardly surprising that it was present. The young boy was rather adorable and was certain to grow up to be a heartbreaker of sorts.

"His name is Nathaniel," Minelli quickly explained, still beaming. "Or Nate. He's my daughter's son."

"Oh," Rigsby muttered, still somewhat bemused. "I didn't realize you were a grandfather."

He grimaced when Cho elbowed him in the gut, glaring immediately at the other agent. After Minelli had given Nathaniel a sandwich to eat, they took to the seats around the surprisingly ostentatious table. Rigsby glanced around nervously, unsure of how to deal with the situation and hoping desperately that Cho would take the lead this time around. As the Asian agent rather bluntly asked Minelli questions about how long he'd owned the house, who he'd brought it from and the like, Rigsby breathed out a sigh of relief. When he'd worked at the CBI, Minelli was his superior and therefore, he'd found him somewhat terrifying. It seemed that even though the man had already left the job, the effect hadn't quite worn off yet. Eventually, the conversation moved onto the specifics of their current case. All three men knew that technically, they were breaking the law in divulging these certain details but Cho especially was keen to get Minelli's opinion on it. It wasn't until Nathanial started whimpering about how his grandpa had promised to take him to the park that they stopped their conversations rather abruptly. Minelli, taking hold of both agents hands firmly, thanked them for taking the time to visit. Though he'd retired, he'd stated that it had been 'nice' to catch up with them and what the SCU were currently working on. After wishing them luck with the case, he slammed the door on them, leaving the pair of them rather surprised at the sudden turn of events. But then again, Minelli was quite a family man, so it wasn't really that surprising at all.

xxx

_Thank you for taking the time to update me, my dear. Though, you have been wasting your time. Two lovely gentlemen came and updated me directly. I'd prefer it if you were more constructive with your time and found new information for me to process instead._

_With love._

Van Pelt read the words over and over again. Did that mean Rigsby and Cho had managed to hit the proverbial nail on the head with those addresses they'd managed to uncover? That they'd actually met Red John? Even she didn't know his identity, she simply had contact with him through e-mail and a few other channels, never directly and certainly never by name. But were they both alright? Having direct contact with Red John meant they could be in grave danger and Van Pelt knew that she should tell someone, Lisbon specifically. But if she did how would she explain how she knew this information? What would happen then? She felt like someone small, insignificant, who had been given a vital piece of evidence and she didn't have a clue how to react. She didn't even notice the footsteps approaching her and almost yelped when a hand grazed her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Rachel stuttered, feeling somewhat nervous. "I should go."

"No, don't," Van Pelt answered quickly. "Can I help you, Miss. Lovett?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm looking for… I'm looking," she paused and took in a deep breath, almost not believing the words she was about to say. "I'm looking for Agent Lisbon, do you know where she is?"

"She should be in her office. If not, she'll be back within five minutes. You're more than welcome to wait here with me."

"Thanks."

Rachel stood, shadowing Van Pelt, rocking back and forth on her feet. This was a massive decision for the young woman and she couldn't quite believe what she was doing. But she so wanted to bring about justice for her mother and according to the various agents who had discussed scant details about the case with her, several others too. This 'Red John' may have been her biological father but as far as she was concerned, nurture was far more important than nature and therefore, her father died years ago. She swallowed her fears down when she saw the brunette agent approach her and took a few steps forward to close the gap. She might as well be direct, to the point. There was no point in wasting either of their time.

"Agent Lisbon, I'd like to take the paternity test."

Lisbon nodded in relief and briefly placed a hand on the younger woman's shoulder, before withdrawing it quickly.

"Come with me."

When they had both left the room for the privacy of Lisbon's office, Van Pelt sighed and quickly opened up her e-mail inbox once more. This was going to be dangerous and she knew that she was placing Rachel in the line of fire. She didn't have much choice though. Being caught in the middle was the story of her life and frankly, it terrified her.

_Rachel Lovett is going to have a paternity test to determine whether or not you are her father._

She clicked 'send' and swallowed deeply, trying desperately not to think about what she had just done.

**TBC…**


	5. Muck

**A/N: **Okay, I didn't expect to be able to update this again so quickly, but I'm not complaining and I hope you're not too! I'm having a lot of fun with this story now I have more time and energy to focus on it so I'm happy. Also fairly tired. I'm blaming Div and Rach for that. Hyperness twice in one day is very exhausting :p

Thanks to: Divinia Serit, Viktorija, Koezh, Famous4it, mtm, yaba, simonisthecutestmentalist, lil smiles, Nick, phoenixmagic1 and Ebony10 for reviewing part four. Especially so to Simonisthecutestmentalist and Nick who signed in anonymously and I couldn't reply to your reviews! Thanks again!

x tromana

* * *

**Part Five - Muck**

_I can never get this muck from round my eyes  
__Dunno why I bother sometimes_

The DNA results came through quickly, far faster than usual, in just a mere couple of days. Van Pelt didn't quite understand the process used to produce the illuminated photographs with various bands smattered across it, but whatever it was, they'd somehow managed to make it happen quickly. It was probably because it was a Red John case they were dealing with and therefore, speed was of the essence. If they were not quick, he would disappear back into the ether again and Van Pelt knew just how much that'd hurt Jane and Lisbon too, for that matter. She hadn't been the same since Bosco died and Minelli retired, but then again there had been so many changes to the CBI since then and even Van Pelt knew that her boss was pretty much married to her job.

Van Pelt wasn't sure whether or not it was a relief that Lisbon sent her to pick up the results. It was a rather menial task, so it hadn't been entirely surprising but she had been hoping that she'd send Rigsby instead. Not because doing menial tasks bothered her; being the rookie still, technically, meant she did get stuck with all the boring jobs that nobody else wanted and she was used to that. However, it also meant she didn't have an excuse for _not_ carrying through Red John's plan. He'd asked her to exchange the results for somebody else's the moment he'd found out about the testing, even supplying details of a suitable candidate. But then again, she'd have had to find a way to exchange them anyway, because otherwise he would have started with his threats again, so maybe it was for the best. So now, she found herself heading back to the office, gripping the wrong report tightly in her hands and about to frame a man for crimes he didn't commit. Provided the evidence was seen as being sound enough - and DNA evidence almost always was - it could even be sentencing a perfectly innocent man to death. Maybe that was why Red John had specifically picked out this person? Maybe they had wronged him somehow? Van Pelt shuddered a little; she didn't want to know what would happen to her if she did something wrong according to the serial killer.

Lisbon rounded the corner, her nose buried deep into a report and almost walked straight into Van Pelt. After a quick apology, the older woman broke out into a wry smile when she noticed the envelope in Van Pelt's hands. Wordlessly, she motioned to Van Pelt to follow and it wasn't until her office door was firmly shut that she requested that Van Pelt hand over the information. It wasn't revealing the information in earshot of others that the senior agent was worried about; Cho, Jane and Rigsby would all find out sooner or later anyway and everyone in the building had security clearance - even the cleaning staff did. Lisbon was simply concerned about the red head and wanted to find out why she'd been so skittish since they'd discovered Red John was back on scene. It was the kind of behavior she expected from Jane, not one of her agents. This time, however, it seemed that she and Jane had had personality transplants, though. Jane was relatively cool and calm and Van Pelt was twitching at any giving moment. Most people would kill, figuratively speaking, to have a boss as protective and caring as Lisbon, but right now, Van Pelt just wished she'd leave her alone. As she explained that she was fine, it was just her Mom was about to have an operation and she really wished she could visit her, but understood that she couldn't, her hand frequently darted through her auburn locks. As she left the small room, she hoped she had Lisbon persuaded, otherwise things were going to get significantly more difficult.

xxx

"Right, guys."

Quick as a flash, Rigsby and Cho were on their feet, staring expectantly at Lisbon. The case had stalled for a couple of days, even Jane had been all out theories, so they were both pleased that they could finally get on with something. It had turned out to be almost impossible to track down any of Hope Lovett's friends and family and the ones they could had nothing on Rach's father. They'd all assumed that the man the woman had married was her real dad rather than a stepfather. As for the addresses they'd been researching, nothing had came up there either. At least DNA was something concrete and infallible.

"We got a hit," she announced as her eyes flicked back down at the piece of paper she was holding. "Adrian Seabrook. Patchy record, though he seems to have turned his life around. Graduated a couple of years ago as a mature student, now a nurse…"

"We saw him, didn't we?" Rigsby prompted and Cho nodded. "Just before we saw the deaf man and Minelli."

"Yeah."

"He has a weapon registered in his name," Lisbon expanded, glancing between individuals. "We'll be taking vests and _wearing_ them. That includes you, Rigsby. Van Pelt, I want you to stay here and man the phones."

As Cho and Jane followed Lisbon out of the bullpen, Rigsby stalled and stared pointedly at his girlfriend. She had already returned her focus to her computer screen and was acting as if her boss hadn't even been in the room at all. Whenever they were lazing around at her home, discussing work, Van Pelt always changed the subject as swiftly as possible. Her reluctance to discuss the case was worrying him; normally she was the one who was most likely to bring work home with her. She hadn't been with the team for long enough to be able to compartmentalize her feelings like that and besides, she seemed to wear her heart on her sleeve rather proudly. It was something he loved about her so seeing this shift in her behavior was disconcerting. With a wave of the hand and a snappish call from Lisbon, he left her alone, feeling irritated. He wanted to work out what this mood was all about and instead, he had to go and deal with someone who appeared to have lied to him first time they questioned him.

xxx

"I don't see how it can be Seabrook."

"You just don't want to believe we've finally got a name," Rigsby announced, irritated that he couldn't nap and think through his problems with Van Pelt. "We've made a breakthrough, Jane. It's nearly over."

"Yeah, man. Sometimes the answer looks obvious when the smoke and mirrors are removed," Cho added, getting frustrated that yet again, he was unable to get into his library book due to unnecessary distractions.

"He just doesn't have the connections to be able to do everything that Red John has."

"Let's just wait and see what he has to say, shall we?" Lisbon stated patiently as they pulled into the street. "Jane, you stay in the van."

"But…"

"I want no arguments, not this time," she snapped, her eyes flickering with worry slightly out of fear for his safety. "This may be Red John, or one of his associates at the very least. I want you safe."

"Red John is mine."

"No, he's not."

"You…"

"Yes, I want to deny you your revenge," she replied, fighting the instinct to roll her eyes at just how clichéd it sounded. She took hold of his hand and stared directly at him. "Please, for me?"

They remained in silence for approximately thirty seconds, just staring at one another and Jane was about to nod in agreement when he found his hands somehow cuffed to the steering wheel. She'd moved far more swiftly than he had anticipated and was already slipping out of the vehicle when he called out about just how unfair she was being. Really, he knew that she was just pulling her protective streak on him and he couldn't fault her for that, but still. This was _maybe_ Red John they were talking about and even though it still felt wrong to him, Jane wanted to be out there with the team. Just to double check whether or not he was right. Theoretically, Red John could be anyone though. He could already have walked past him in the street, shared a drink with him. Hell, he could even be right under his nose for all he knew. After all, regardless of what the sheet of paper Van Pelt had given Lisbon had said, they still didn't actually know what California's most notorious serial killer looked like or what his name really was.

Caught between several LEOs and the three agents, it didn't take long for them to draw Adrian Seabrook out into clear view. He was justifiably furious, but armed, which worried Lisbon somewhat. She had been hoping that the local support as a precautionary measure had been almost over reactionary, but the visit from Cho and Rigsby a couple of days ago had obviously set their suspect on edge. Now, despite the fact he was clearly surrounded and there was no place for him to run, he remained defiant and was determined to put up a fight until the very last second.

"We can do this quietly," she announced, hoping that the quaver in her voice wasn't too obvious. "We just have a couple of questions to ask you."

"You, you never trust me. Never believe that a man can sort his life out."

Eyes wild, Seabrook waved the gun around, alternating between pointing it at Lisbon, Cho and himself. Taking a deep breath and slowly placing her gun back in place, Lisbon took a step closer, standing away from the inexperienced police officers who had been flanking her, with her hands clearly where the crazed man could see them. All she had to do was calm him down enough to get him to place the firearm he was holding down on the ground slowly and carefully.

"Nobody's accusing you of anything, Mr. Seabrook. Adrian."

"You don't mean it. None of you do."

"Adrian, please lower your gun and then we can talk about it."

At the crack of a gun being fired, Lisbon's hand was immediately on her hip, drawing her weapon. Her eyes darted, trying desperately to source out the shooter, who apparently wasn't Seabrook for he looked as terrified as she felt but he had let off a couple of wild shots out of reflex. A couple of the more nervous officers behind her appeared to suddenly become a little trigger happy too and Lisbon was terrified that the situation was spiraling out of control. She was horrified when she saw Seabrook yell out in agony and collapse to the ground, obviously hit by someone to the left. After the last shot had been fired and bullets had finished whistling past her ears, Lisbon quickly glanced around, breathing heavily and trying to ascertain that all the members of her team were safe and well. Jane, had listened to instructions for the first time in his entire life, mainly because of the handcuffs. He was slowly opening the door to the van and slipping out, having taken longer than he expected to pick the lock. Cho, breathing heavily was just behind her, matching her actions as she holstered her gun. However, Rigsby was only just lowering his gun, eyes filled with shock. He was the one who'd not only shot at, but hit their perp, just as he'd agreed to lower his weapon.

The man who was now lying unconscious on the ground.

**TBC…**


	6. Nothing

**A/N: **Don't ask, I don't know what's happened to me lately. No, I can't bottle and sell it either. If I could, I would. Hah. And now I've probably just jinxed it as well...

Thank you to: Divinia Serit, Koezh, yaba, lil smiles, Nick (no need to apologise for not having an account; I appreciate your support regardless!), Ebony10, lisbon69, Viktorija and Simonisthecuttestmentalist for reviewing part five. It means a ridiculous amount to me so thank you!

And ugh. It appears FFN is on the blink again. Half the pages won't open for me, or will eventually but only after a long wrestle. Dammit.

Also, relatively brief chapter (for this fic) - I apologise.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Six - Nothing**

_But I'm nothing special_

"Rigsby, you shot him," Lisbon spoke eventually, sounding angrier than she intended, but she couldn't exactly help it. "This is a rare lapse in judgment for you."

"I know, Boss, I'm sorry… I…"

His eyes followed her as she paced around him, unsure what to do. He'd have to see the shrink now, heck, they all would. Company protocol dictated that any officer involved in a shooting had to. Thankfully, she'd already managed to squeeze in an appointment and get signed off so was ready to go back to work. Cho and Jane were in the process of doing the same. It was only routine but it was getting in the way of the case. If only Rigsby hadn't pulled the trigger, then they wouldn't have this problem. She'd almost talked Seabrook down, damn it and he had to go and do something like that. With a sigh, Lisbon perched herself on her desk and stared down at Rigsby, knowing full well that it made him feel particularly uncomfortable as he was so used to being taller than her. Whenever she was giving somebody a dressing down she aimed to do that though and she knew that Jane would have a field day psychoanalyzing her behavior given the chance.

"Rigsby," she started again, softer this time. "Is there anything on your mind, anything that's causing you to be so distracted?"

"Well, Grace…"

She froze immediately, not wanting to hear about it. Instead, she stood and headed towards her filing cabinet, hastily pulling out some paperwork while Rigsby watched her, feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second. He knew what was coming next and he knew she wasn't best pleased about it. A Red John case was the time she least wanted to be an agent down, but her desire to work by the book was more important to her than ever. Besides, it was for his own mental well-being and it would help him to reassess his behavior by being away from the place for a while. He was responsible for starting a shooting, after all. But it was a Red John and the whole team got a bit funny whenever he was around so the idea of being away was disconcerting to say the least.

"I assume you know what this is for."

Feeling rather morose, Rigsby took the forms from Lisbon and quickly glanced them over. Three weeks off and a series of appointments with the CBI's shrink. Standard procedure, something even she made herself endure if the situation arose. After a quick nod in her direction, Rigsby vacated her office as quickly as possible. He hardly heard her lackluster apology for having to suspend him during such a crucial investigation. Frankly, he didn't care. He just wanted to get out of the building and into a gym to work off some of his pent up rage. Lisbon may have been pissed as hell over his reactions during the shooting, but even she wasn't as furious as he was with himself.

xxx

The day seemed to get a little better for her when Cho informed her that they had eventually managed to track down a couple of Hope's friends and organized meetings with them in the morning. It had appeared that she was something of a loner though, had pushed everybody away shortly after the birth of her daughter. They were more work colleagues than anything else and therefore unlikely to notice if the woman had been spending time with unusual men shortly before her death. If Rachel hadn't really noticed anything different in her mother's behavior, what would be the chance of these woman having picked up something when they had never really cared about her in the first place? Still, it was a place to look and if Red John had been hounding her at work, there could be a chance that somebody had seen them. After all, the only motive they could come up with was the idea that the woman was threatening to reveal his identity to the police.

While Van Pelt, Cho and Lisbon had worked on these leads, Jane however, had been no where to be seen and it was only when dinnertime came around that Lisbon noticed that he had been missing. Though she would be loathe to admit it, she had grown to rely on him feeding her regular meals as she had a tendency to 'forget' to eat and get too engrossed in her work. Her stomach grumbled loudly and she walked a few paces out of her office, glancing at the couch out of instinct. She'd kind of assumed he was there as it wasn't quite possible for her to see it from where she sat. Frowning, she continued walking into the bullpen, which was quieter than usual without Rigsby and Cho goading one another. Both of them looked up from what they were doing when she approached them, expecting some kind of order or some other task to focus on.

"Um…" she started and cringed at her poor communicative skills. "Where's Jane?"

"Dunno, Boss," Cho supplied. "He left hours ago."

"Thanks," she muttered before coming to a quick decision. "Look, there's nothing happening and we're not going to be able to do anything til morning. I'm going home - you two can leave whenever you've finished those forms."

Van Pelt's face lit up at the prospect of an early night, especially during a case and despite the fact she still had at least an hour's worth of work left to do. Cho immediately started to organize which belongings he needed to take home with him; without the distractions of Rigsby and Jane, he'd already finished and had essentially just been waiting for permission to leave. Lisbon knew she hadn't convinced him of her intentions for the rest of the day, but she didn't care and knew she had to hurry.

The son of a bitch had probably headed to the hospital to confront Seabrook alone _hours_ ago and she cursed her gullibility for not realizing that.

xxx

Her heart was in her throat as she roughly slammed the door to the SUV shut and locked it. For all she knew, Jane could be slaughtering their only suspect in his hospital bed before he even had a chance to recover from a wound that shouldn't be life threatening. She'd been informed by the medics that they'd placed him under sedation, however, which was why they hadn't been able to continue pushing the investigation in the direction she'd have preferred and why now she was terrified for the man's safety, even if he was Red John or one of his associates. If nothing else, she needed him alive to get a few answers and if Jane had acted as impulsively as usual… She shook her head and automatically flashed her badge and a brief smile at the security guard. With a nod, he grinned in response and let her through and she headed down the private corridor towards Seabrook's room. For a hospital, the corridor was painfully quiet and it made her feel uncomfortable, especially as it felt like her every thought was echoing loudly in her brain. Still, she'd have her answers when she eventually reach room 274, which felt like it was miles away.

Swallowing away her fears and screwing her eyes tightly shut, Lisbon threw her weight against the heavy, impractical door and pushed her way into the room. It took her a couple of seconds to have the confidence to open her eyes, expecting to see a bloodbath when she did. Instead, the man was still sleeping, his chest rising and falling as regularly as clockwork. Jane, was present as she expected, but instead of preparing to kill a man in a vulnerable position, he was perched on a plastic chair, just staring at him, with an unreadable expression written across his features. Lisbon took a couple of steps closer before sighing heavily and finally catching Jane's attention.

"Lisbon," he acknowledged quietly, not even tearing his gaze away from his subject.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I followed you."

"Ah."

"You shouldn't be here."

"I know."

Instead of trying to drag him away, knowing full well that it would be a thankless task, she pulled up another chair and sat beside Jane. She didn't much appreciate the silence that enveloped them, but she didn't know what to say either. How the hell was she meant to predict what the blond was thinking when she could barely keep him under control at work? It was hard enough trying to second guess him at the best of times and now, while working on a Red John case, it was near on impossible.

"The…" Jane paused; his voice sounded strangled due to the strain of the situation and all the emotions coursing through his veins. He didn't even know why he felt the need to talk to Lisbon about this, but he did. Some say a problem shared is a problem halved, but Jane had a feeling that this would just be multiplying it instead. "You think this is the man responsible for my family's…"

Deliberately, she slowly took hold of his hand and was relieved when he didn't pull it away. She carefully allowed her fingers to run over his knuckles as he fought back the tears, not wanting to break down in front of another team member. Not wanting to break down in front of her specifically. With a pained expression, he eventually stared her in the eyes and she found herself blinking faster than usual, wishing that yet again, she had all the answers and that she could make all of his pain go away.

"We don't know for sure yet," she whispered soothingly. "We'll know more when he wakes. C'mon, let's get something to eat. You probably haven't eaten all day and neither have I."

She stood and let out a quiet sigh of relief when he mimicked her seconds later.

**TBC…**


	7. Tears

**A/N: **Can't believe it's the end of the month already, where has the time gone? Anyway, another quieter chapter and I'm not quite sure what I think of it personally, but I know it needs to be here. Next one will see the return of Rachel again, which'll be fun and hopefully more will actually happen.

Anyway, thank you to: lisbon69, Famous4it, mtm, Koezh, Viktorija, Nick (I'm glad you still love this story - thank you!), yaba, Frogster, Divinia Serit, Ebony10, Simonisthecuttestmentalist and WildDaisies10 for reviewing part six. It really means a lot to me!

x tromana

* * *

**Part Seven ****- Tears**

_I can't let you see my tears_

The call took Van Pelt by surprise. It was late, for she had gotten distracted by several more pieces of paperwork she had accidentally forgotten about and she was fairly certain that she was the last agent left in the building or at least, on their floor. Especially so as she had just been gathering her belongings together to go home and hadn't seen anybody else around for a good half an hour. Most people knew it was generally best to leave such calls until morning rather than calling at eight p.m., but obviously Rachel Lovett was not one of those people. Then again, she struck Van Pelt as quite an instinctive person, somebody who did what she wanted when she wanted to and nothing could sway her otherwise. After noting down Rachel's cell phone number, she bid her farewell before staring at her own scrawled handwriting and trying to work out what she needed to do.

Rachel wanted to book a meeting with Lisbon, though whatever the reason was, she had absolutely no idea and the girl had refused to tell her. Obviously she had thought that the senior agent needed to know something and soon, otherwise she would have left the call until morning and obviously she didn't particularly trust anybody else to pass on the message.

But Van Pelt also knew that she would have to inform Red John. In between cases, the criminal didn't mind if he didn't hear from her regularly, as there were rarely developments when it came to the case. But during one however, he insisted upon hearing every slight detail, including several threats if she were to slip up. Closing her eyes, she typed a quick message to the serial killer and pressed send, trying not to think of what the consequences might be for the young woman and instead picked up her cell phone to inform Lisbon of the call. The sooner she got through to her boss, the sooner she could organize the meeting that Rachel had been so determined to orchestrate just five minutes earlier.

Lisbon, surprisingly enough, didn't pick up which unsettled Van Pelt. The senior agent wasn't one for switching her cell phone off and hated putting herself out of contact, so Van Pelt couldn't help but feel a little bit of panic rising in her veins. Quickly, she shook her head, dispelling her worry. It didn't take a genius to work out that Jane had probably gone to the hospital to see Seabrook and therefore, Lisbon had been hot on his heels. She'd get back to her as soon as possible.

The phone laying on her desk rang out brightly again and tentatively, Van Pelt picked it up. The voice on the other end crackled at her, obviously using some kind of voice modulation device in order to disguise the identity of the other person. Not only was it the first time Red John had called her at work, but it was the first time he had contact her by telephone at all. Obviously, he saw the information he wanted to impart to her as being particularly important or he wanted to keep her on her toes. As she bid him farewell, she decided it was probably to serve both purposes. Swallowing deeply, she picked up the phone yet again and dialed Rachel's number. It seemed that she wouldn't be meeting Lisbon the next day, but Red John instead, in his specially selected location, which probably had some significance to him, though what it was, Van Pelt couldn't be sure.

Though she had finally finished her work and could theoretically go straight home, she let her head rest upon her desk for quite some time instead. It took the red head quite some time to clear the tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes and she was relieved that there was nobody around to see her crying too.

When she reached her modest apartment, she frowned when she saw the light had already been turned on. About a month ago, she had agreed to give Rigsby a key of his own after much pestering. Really, she had been quite reluctant because she appreciated her privacy more than he understood and had only given in because he had been so persuasive and desperate. His devotion was really quite sweet, but she couldn't help but wonder what he'd think if he knew that she was Red John's mole. As far as he was concerned, she was his sweet, impressionable and compassionate Grace and such information would probably be devastating to him. Still, she dispelled the thought as she unlocked the front door and saw him reclining on her couch as the scent of a homemade curry immediately hit her nostrils.

"You're later than I thought," he said before she even had a chance to reply. He was almost immediately on his feet and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, nestling his head in her auburn hair. "I was getting worried."

Ignoring his plaintive statements, she turned away to hang her jacket on its hook and placed her purse by the front door, but not without fishing out her cell phone and pocketing it. Instead, she sighed deeply and faced him with a wistful smile on her face. It was probably for the best that he was here, it distracted her from Red John and his inevitable plans for Rachel. That was something she naturally didn't really want to think about so immersing herself in Rigsby's adoration would probably do her some good, even if she didn't feel like she particularly deserved it. When her stomach rumbled loudly, Rigsby smiled brightly at her and led her through to the kitchen. The curry had been pretty much ready for half an hour and he'd simply been waiting for her to arrive.

"How did your meeting with Lisbon go?" Van Pelt asked through a mouthful of rice. "You left quickly and never told me…"

"Fine," he replied stiffly and avoided looking her in the eye.

"You've been suspended, haven't you?" she replied softly and Rigsby nodded mournfully in response. "I'm sorry."

And she genuinely was. She knew just how much the job meant to Rigsby and that he had been beating himself up since the shooting. Him being suspended was simply rubbing salt in the wound, though it would probably do him good having some time off work too.

xxx

Lisbon met Jane at the hospital first thing in the morning, still feeling rather irritable after a restless night's sleep due to sheer worry. But at least it seemed like things were finally moving. Last night, Van Pelt had kindly organized a meeting with Rachel for her in the afternoon and in ten minutes time, she'd be questioning Adrian Seabrook regarding Red John's crimes. She was relieved that his doctor had understood the importance of the case and allowed them access to his patient so soon after he'd regained consciousness. It was unusual, though not unheard of, for them to question a suspect in hospital. The only exceptions came when the case was particularly sensitive and they needed the information as soon as possible. Which, considering the _type_ of crimes her unit generally dealt with, was more often than not. As they walked towards the room, Jane was already enveloped in a sullen silence, something which didn't surprise her much, but still, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. Jane being so quiet only happened once in a blue moon and it always made her feel that way.

"You okay?"

Jane nodded and his eyes remained firmly focused on the route they were taking.

"You don't have to do this, you know," she muttered, knowing exactly how he'd respond. "I could call Cho…"

"No, I'm fine," he interrupted and she nodded gently in response, smiling slightly as he opened the door to Seabrook's room and allowed her to enter it first.

Lisbon found the questioning frustrating. Seabrook refused to give a straight answer to any question they asked and even Jane was beginning to get irritated by the man. Half of the question she posed to him, he seemed to completely misunderstand and appeared to be talking about a completely different situation. He seemed to have definitely heard of Red John, but what it was he knew about him he wasn't willing to let them know any time soon. Really, she had enough to arrest him but like Jane, she was doubting the evidence she had. As they were shooed out of the room by an annoyed media, who wanted the patient left in peace, she seriously considered requesting that the DNA was retested. This was the one case that they couldn't screw up. Jane looked even angrier than before as they left the hospital and Lisbon had a feeling that anything she said would probably be thrown straight back in her face.

"He's not Red John."

"How can you be so sure?"

"His whole demeanor, he's not capable of murder."

"In the right circumstances, almost anyone could be."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Yes."

"Well _he_ isn't."

"Based on what? The way he sleeps? The way he reorganizes his bed sheets?"

"No."

"I can't disregard him based on a _hunch_, Jane."

"You can't, but…"

"Okay, so you're probably right," Lisbon huffed, feeling somewhat annoyed at Jane's stubbornness. "But I still think he's involved somehow."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Jane announced confidently as Lisbon observed him. "He probably helped Red John at some point and has ceased to be useful."

Lisbon found it a relief when they eventually arrived back at CBI headquarters, though even Cho and Van Pelt seemed to be in a sullen mood too. It was irritating that Jane's mood seemed to be catching but there was nothing she could do about it. If she could, she would. She absolutely loathed seeing Jane so cut up about Red John, because regardless of how her actions around him were perceived, she did care about the man quite a lot. He was one of her team and that meant she was determined to help him to the best of her abilities. After all, it was clear he cared for her too and she'd be a fool not to admit that she was flattered by the attention he lavished upon her. Maybe, in another time, things would have been different between them, there could have been something more. She shook her head, almost laughing at her thoughts. There was no point in thinking that way. All she could do was be grateful for what they had and try and help him out the way a good friend should.

And she could only hope that her forthcoming meeting with Rachel could be more useful than the one with Seabrook had been.

**TBC…**


	8. Trying

**A/N: **Right, I have quite a bit to get through in this note.

Firstly, I'm so sorry about the delay for updating this. I hit a mild block on it, not helped by the fact I've been suffering from a very severe migraine all week. It still hasn't gone, unfortunately but I've managed to write this now in bits throughout the week.

Secondly, thank you to: WildDaisies10, mtm, Divinia Serit, Nick Tarostar, Koezh, Ebony10, yaba, phoenixmagic1, Viktorija, Famous4it, lil smiles, Frogster, Simonisthecuttestmentalist and boutondor for reviewing part seven. We're over half way now - so thank you for sticking with me thus far.

Finally, and most importantly: As with the Haiti disaster, I'm auctioning off fanfic for Chile. If you are at all interested, I have two auctions running.

http:/ community dot livejournal dot com/help_chile/2190 dot html?thread=302478#t302478 for 2000+ words of Mentalist fanfic

and

http:/community dot livejournal dot com/help_chile/2190 dot html?thread=302990#t302990 for 100+ words of Doctor Who or Sanctuary fanfic.

(Replace the 'dots'.)

Again, this isn't me begging for bids, this is just me making sure you know the opportunity is there if you want to.

Now all that is over, this is a rather brief chapter and I apologise - especially as the A/N is longer than usual.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Eight - Trying**

_I've been trying to be something I'd never be_

Van Pelt was the first into the bullpen that morning and she was hardly surprised. Not many people arrived at work at five thirty a.m., after all. But she couldn't sleep, had foisted off Rigsby with some excuse about wanting to go for an early morning run and had headed straight for the CBI headquarters instead. It wasn't as if he'd know any different, especially with his suspension. The building felt something like a safe haven for her; Red John may have planted herself and Rebecca in there, but he'd never gained access himself. She had been the one responsible for the secretary's death, but nobody had made the connection, much to her relief.

But that didn't stop the guilt over it though.

And now somebody else was about to die due to her direct intervention.

Rachel hadn't harmed anyone and it wasn't as if she could have chosen who her father was or her mother's dalliances. Rather like Van Pelt herself couldn't change the past so that her own father hadn't struck a deal with Red John that had since dictated her entire lifestyle. Instead of telling Lisbon that she thought the girl was in danger, she had organized a meeting with a serial killer for her. Van Pelt was leading her directly into a death trap; she sincerely doubted whether or not the girl would see the light of day again. Gathering up a few belongings, Van Pelt headed out of the building once more. She was feeling light headed and in rather desperate need of some fresh air. Perhaps a walk would straighten her mind out and help her to come to a logical decision over the sorry mess she had found herself caught up in? But whatever she did, all she could see was danger. Either Red John's blade, for becoming defunct or years in jail and the disappointment of colleagues she had grown to admire brought on by the fact she had been aiding a serial killer.

She was almost literally trapped between a rock and a hard place and she genuinely had no idea who to turn to or what to do.

xxx

Rachel was somewhat confused about the fact that Agent Lisbon had wanted to meet her at a deserted warehouse, of all places and though she had actively decided she shouldn't question the law enforcement officer, she couldn't help but do just that. She shuddered as she spotted a spider skittering in front of her, seemingly aimless in the direction it was choosing to run. Light leaked through gaps in the chipboard window coverings and the dust danced in it as she kicked it up while walking around an upturned table and long-since deserted filing cabinet. It was a suitably creepy scene, perfect for a clichéd crime scene. Rachel snorted. Maybe Lisbon and her team were meeting her here to show her one in the hope that it would trigger some memories and allow her to help out with the case they were working on? Genuinely, she wanted to help, but the only information she had for them was that she had found some letters that her Mom had hidden in their garage years ago. She'd remembered them being there from a childhood of being overly curious and though, in her opinion, they didn't really say anything of use, she didn't know what a cop would think. Besides, it wasn't her job to think like a criminal, but it was _their's_.

"Hello?" she called tentatively, listening out as her voice echoed around the room.

No response. Part of her was unsurprised. With a shrug, she continued walking further and further into the building, hoping that Lisbon would be hidden away in one of the rooms that were attached to the expansive space she had found herself in. She jolted when she heard the door creak open and again when it slammed shut. Spinning around on her heels, she tried to catch sight of whoever it was that had joined her in the warehouse. Rachel knew that she hadn't imagined the noise, it had been far too loud and far too blatantly obvious for that. Instead, she took a few steps forwards, glancing around wildly, hoping desperately to see whoever it was before they saw her. Surely Agent Lisbon wouldn't hide in the shadows, would she? Especially as it was her who had suggested this location according to the woman she'd spoken to on the telephone. A Van Pelt or something and Rachel was fairly certain she was the lowest ranked member of the team working on her mother's case.

She wouldn't have screamed had she seen Red John approach her, but she would have offered him a piece of her mind. Instead, a heavy blow to the back of her skull rendered her unconscious and by the time her eyes fluttered back open, she found herself tied tightly to a chair with her wrists and legs tied with silver duct tape. The man's face was covered, though it was unnecessary considering it was obvious what didn't intend for her to survive this meeting. Especially so given the protective clothing he was wearing and the knife glinting in his hand. It didn't take her long to realize that this was the way her mother died, especially when Red John's dulcet tones apologized for what he was about to do.

When he closed the gap between them, brandishing the knife with expert ease, she refused to give him the satisfaction of screaming. If nothing else, she was going to die with the little dignity that she could.

xxx

As time dragged on, Lisbon decided she was having yet another day where she felt like banging her head against a brick wall. She had found herself fiddling with a black ballpoint pen, alternating between twisting it between her fingers and placing it back in the desk tidy as she waited impatiently. Rachel was meant to have arrived two hours ago and she didn't want to leave just in case the young woman did eventually arrive late. She couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with that though. Given the fact that the young woman knew something about Red John, it made her a prime target and easy prey for the serial killer, regardless of the fact that she was apparently the daughter of one of his cohorts. Though, of course, there could be a simple explanation for the girl's no-show such as being held up at work, bad traffic or something. Still, she couldn't help but worry. Jane was right, Seabrook probably wasn't Red John and therefore the murderer was still out there somewhere.

Lisbon smiled briefly when the plastic telephone on her desk buzzed shrilly at her; this was probably the explanation for why Rachel was so late for their meeting. As she placed the receiver to her ear, she made sure she at least sounded relatively calm despite the menagerie of emotions eating her up from the inside. Quickly, she thanked the caller, whose name she didn't quite catch and literally started banging her head against her desk again. She knew it, though the informant had insisted that there was still time. Grabbing her jacket, she rushed through to the bullpen to organize her team. Well, just Cho as both Jane and Van Pelt were absent without leave. This was the one time when she didn't want to be so terribly understaffed but she didn't have much choice.

When they were loading the van, she breathed a sigh of relief as Van Pelt jogged around the corner, slightly breathless and brushing away a thin layer of sweat. Lisbon breathed out a sigh of relief and just ordered that she climbed in the van instead. She could update the younger woman while they were traveling and besides, she didn't really have time to lay into her about her late appearance. Still, it was better late than never and she was beginning to feel a little less nervous about the upcoming raid on the warehouse location they'd been supplied with. The only problem was, she didn't have a clue where Jane was and that could only mean trouble. If he'd done something stupid like got himself injured, or worse, Lisbon knew that she'd never forgive herself.

xxx

Jane tapped his fingers agitatedly against the steering wheel as he waited at a red light. He didn't have time for this and as he wanted to catch Red John before Lisbon and the team arrived, he didn't really have time for waiting around at lights. He breathed a sigh of relief when, after what felt like an age, they changed and he was on his way again. Part of him felt a little guilty for tapping Lisbon's phone, but the rest of him really didn't care. This was the closest he had gotten to revenge and though he knew everybody still judged him for that, he didn't care.

Apart from, maybe…

…Well, _she _did care about him a lot too and it was only naturally that he would feel some kind of companionship for her…

And maybe, just maybe, if there was such a thing as life after Red John for him…

He shook his head as he pulled up into the virtually abandoned parking lot. He recognized Rachel's Mini the moment he spotted it and pulled up beside him. Seemed the anonymous tip was right and the young woman was already there. Now, he could only hope that he'd beaten Red John there. Quickly, he killed the engine and slammed the door to his car shut a little too roughly, causing him to apologize to the machine automatically. When he walked through the wide doors, his senses were on high alert. For what felt like an age, he wandered around the dusty room, trying to check for signs of other living people. As he inspected a pile of disturbed dust, he noticed the doors slamming behind him and attempted to make chase, down a hallway and into an office.

Instead, all he found was Rachel's body with a smiley face glaring down on it.

**TBC…**


	9. Fire

**A/N: **Okay, this chapter is brief but I really don't want to add anymore because I don't think it'll fit with the rest of it. Also, it is Part One from Lisbon's point of view. Can't believe just how quickly I wrote this part. Didn't think I'd get it finished until this evening!

Anyway, thanks to: Koezh, Nick Tarostar, Frogster, yaba, phoenixmagic1, Divinia Serit, Famous4it, Ebony10, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, mtm, Viktorija and lysemma for reviewing part eight.

Better go now. Driving lesson in five minutes.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Nine - Fire**

_A little bit of fire drives the boys away,  
__But maybe I might let you stay,  
__If you show me that your love is real_

Lisbon felt as if her heart was trying to escape from her chest and somebody had stuffed cotton wool into her mouth as she drove silently to their given destination. The silence the three agents had found themselves enveloped in felt suitably ominous but that was doing little to help her maintain her cool, calm exterior. Cho had taken to watching her as she drove, something which she could see out of the corner of her eye and irritated her a little, though not as much as Van Pelt's long, dragging sighs which came every two minutes or so, as regularly as clockwork. When they piled out of the van, she took a few deep breaths trying to calm down ragged nerves before they even entered the building. Her fingers shook a little as she dealt with the fastenings on her Kevlar vest and again as she removed her gun from her holster. Lisbon was beginning to hope that the call would be a hoax and that everything was fine. Or, at the very least, she didn't have to try and shoot anything. For the first time in a very long while, she found herself not trusting her keen eye and the hands holding the familiar firearm.

If something had happened to Jane, she didn't know quite what she would do with herself. Sure, she called him all the names under the sun, threatened to kick his ass on so many occasions that she'd actually lost count and generally made it well known just how much of a nuisance she thought he was around the workplace but that didn't mean she really felt that way. She knew that she'd be petrified for his well being regardless, she had been on every other occasion he, or anyone else in her care, had thrust themselves willingly into danger and that was part of the curse of being the boss. But this was different, the feelings were all so much more intense than usual, like she thought it would be physically impossible for her to cope if she never saw that dumb grin flashed in her direction. She shook her head slightly and began to briefly wonder when she had started to _feel _so deeply for the consultant, though she was unable to pinpoint a time or date.

Van Pelt and Cho were watching her expectantly, waiting for her to take the lead as she always did. Eventually, she managed to relay orders to them and they entered the dilapidated warehouse. It didn't take them long to find Jane. His yelp of pain as his fist collided with a brick wall had directed Lisbon in his direction and she breathed a slight sigh of relief when she saw he was still in one piece and not being threatened by anyone. A pang of guilt shot through her as she finally saw Rachel's body laying on the floor beside Jane and she wished that she'd protected the young woman better than they had, though she had a feeling she wouldn't have co-operated anyway. Rather embarrassingly, though not that anyone noticed, it took her a couple of attempts to place her weapon back in its holster and she quietly asked the other two agents to scour the rest of the building, leaving herself and Jane alone. Slowly, she approached him and he barely seemed to acknowledge her presence. His shoulders had hunched slightly as he cradled his broken fist and he only turned around when she allowed her fingertips to brush against his shoulder.

"You _idiot_," she burst suddenly, unable to contain the bubbling pit of anger any longer. "You could have got yourself killed. Why did you…"

"I should have saved Rachel. I should have been here," he interrupted and Lisbon's throat constricted a little as he looked at her with a pained expression. "I should have got him."

She breathed in deeply and allowed the air out once again in a calming, measured manner. There was no point in being so angry with him, it wasn't as if he ever learned from her fury. Besides, how could she judge him for feeling that way when that was exactly how she was feeling too? Instead, with a lot of persuasion, Jane eventually allowed her to take him to the hospital to receive treatment for his mauled hand. Lisbon knew he was unimpressed, that he wanted to get on, which she did too, but some things were more important. Red John did funny things to them all and it was getting to the stage where she just needed it to all be over. She took it as a measure of his trust in her when he actually allowed her to drive the Citroen to the hospital and allow the other two to get back to headquarters and process their newest information.

When they were heading back to CBI headquarters, Jane all sullen and surly, she wondered just what else was going to happen to throw her life into complete disarray. She'd just spent the past few hours merely watching him watching her as he received treatments for his self-inflicted injury. Normally, she had little time for people who caused themselves or others pain, but she still had that tightened feeling in her chest from knowing that Jane could've been hurt. It was a relief that, all things considered, he only had a relatively minor injury, but Lisbon was certain that the tension wouldn't disappear until after this was all over. As they traveled, she tried desperately to engage Jane in conversation, to distract him from his melancholy, but nothing worked. By the time they reached their destination, she was beginning to feel frustrated again, like she had literally been banging her head against a brick wall. If she'd been in a better mood, she might have wondered why she even bothered, but right now, she was too irritated to even do that.

Van Pelt looked tense as she approached Lisbon and Jane and the brunette found herself furrowing her eyebrow in the direction of the younger agent. Cho had already left, to see if any of Rachel's friends had any useful information even though it was rather late to be making house calls. Still, she understood the rookie's apprehension when she played the recorded message that had arrived at her desk an hour earlier. The poor woman looked so confused and torn that Lisbon couldn't help but feel a little pity for her as the distorted voice laid out his set of demands. Of course she was worried too, but that feeling was nothing new. The most disconcerting thing about the situation was she knew that Jane would be more than happy to play directly into Red John's hands and she simply couldn't allow him to do that.

"Good work, Van Pelt," she murmured before grabbing Jane's good hand gently and tugging him towards her office.

Jane leaned up against one of the prefabricated walls, crumpling up the Venetian blinds as Lisbon collapsed into her chair and allowed her head to collide with her desk. This was the most brazen that the serial killer had ever been and Lisbon wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Was he really getting bored with playing cat and mouse, to the extent that he actually wanted to meet face to face with Jane? It just didn't correlate with anything else they knew about the murderer and Lisbon couldn't help but think that they were missing a rather large chunk of the jigsaw puzzle. Eventually, she lifted her head slightly, so she could stare Jane directly in the eye. She swallowed slightly, trying to ignore the figurative drowning sensation that was enveloping her senses.

"What do we do?"

She was horrified by Jane's response, but had expected it. Accepting Red John's whims just felt wrong to her, but she knew deep down that they were always going to have to. This was one of those opportunities that they just couldn't let slip through their fingers, but equally there was a ridiculous amount of danger and chance involved. Lisbon didn't like falling into situations like this when the odds were stacked so highly against them. And when he added that he 'wasn't worth saving', she couldn't help but feel her anger rise again. Because he was wrong, he was worth saving, if only to her.

"Don't say that," she muttered, eyes springing with tears slightly. "Please, don't."

"Why not?"

She shook her head slightly, her hair catching slightly on her shoulders and Jane narrowed his eyes. Another impasse, but he'd grown to inspect that from her. Their whole relationship was pretty much defined by the way they butted heads with one another on a regular basis. Instead, he allowed his gaze to soften as he looked at her and smiled slightly in response. She froze a little before raising to her feet and walking around her desk to approach him.

"I'm coming with you."

"I'm not having you walk head first into a dangerous situation, Lisbon."

"It's my job to."

"Not for me."

"Jane…"

He shook his head and turned away from her. Lisbon growled slightly and closed the gap between them. Her breathing felt labored, heavy but she needed to say something. Needed to make her side of the story clear. And if he was more than willing to throw himself into danger, she was more than willing to stand by his side and do it with him. It was all she _could_ do.

"Maybe I'm not trying to save you. Maybe I want to fall _with _you instead."

**TBC…**


	10. Defense

**A/N: **So, I'm on part ten of a two parter. That's good, right? Or rather, I'm on part ten of a two parter, damn you, Rach! Anyway. FFN is broken again, which is annoying but I thought I'd put this up anyway, otherwise I might forget and that would be bad.

Thanks to: Koezh, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, mtm, lil smiles, yaba, Ebony10, Frogster, Divinia Serit, Famous4it and boutondor for reviewing part nine. I love this fic so much (despite the fact it's gone unbelievably out of control) so I'm glad other people are too.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Ten - Defense**

_I can never let you see the girl inside  
__Won't let my defenses slide_

Jane felt terribly fearful as he crept down the darkened alleyway, like the whole sorry situation was inherently wrong. It was just past three a.m. and Red John, or at least somebody who he had sent on his behalf, was due to meet him within five minutes. He wasn't surprised that this was the meeting place of choice; there was only one way to run and it was far too easy for somebody to trap you in it. He'd noted that the brick work was crumbling and the floor grimy from years of neglect. The only light was a faint orange glow from the street light and generally, it made him feel even more uncomfortable. It was a little comfort to him to know that Lisbon had already installed herself deep in the shadows, but it was also a concern that she had so willingly thrust herself into danger, especially as he knew they hadn't organized back-up. Besides, he had a shrinking feeling that it was probably playing directly into Red John's hands too. He had probably known that by explicitly telling her to avoid the location and to _not_ get involved that she would do the exact opposite. To be fair, regardless of what Red John had told her, she would have attended anyway. In fact, her words were still playing on his mind as he edged further into the alleyway. They'd both always known just how reckless Jane was when it came to Red John, but he'd never realized that she would be so willing to support him blindly too.

Maybe he had been having a detrimental effect on her? That was something he should have noticed sooner, but he'd so caught up with his own games that he had barely noticed her shifting perception. Or that Minelli had been right and he had finally managed to get her to drink the Kool Aid as it were. Or maybe, it had been Bosco's death that had given her that final push over the edge. She had always been terribly close to her old mentor, after all and it though it was wrong to blame a deceased man for dilemmas such as that, it was easier on his conscience than blaming himself. Besides, his conscience had already taken so many blows, it was only fair to try and pass one more problem off if and when he could.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea? If they knew it was playing straight into Red John's hands, why the hell were they agreeing to the charade at all? They really were getting desperate if it came to this. He shuddered; he couldn't help feeling like he was like a sitting duck, even with Lisbon so close by. Jane glanced at his hand, trying to work out how long he'd been shaking for. Tearing his gaze away from his twitching hand, he allowed his eyes to scour the scene. Nothing. He shuddered, again the feeling that they shouldn't be there was nagging away at his being.

Jane shook his head slightly, wondering where this sudden crisis of confidence had come from. Now was not the time to panic, nor the time to try and figure Lisbon out. Now was…

He froze. Somebody was pointing a gun to his head.

xxx

Van Pelt fingered the CD-rom apprehensively. She had no idea why she had the urge to go back to work at three in the morning, but there was something calming about it and she finally understood why Jane slept there on occasion. Nobody in the CBI knew about the disc and she'd prepared it a while back for this kind of scenario. She knew it wasn't going to take long to figure out that she had been the one to inform Lisbon that he was about to murder Rachel. She'd genuinely hoped that they would reach the destination on time, but seeing the young woman's dead body lying on the floor had been horrifying. Excepting Rebecca, this was the closest Van Pelt had been to a Red John murder and it was certainly the first time she had lured an innocent woman to her death.

That was half the reason she was toying with leaving the disc of vital information on the brunette agent's desk.

The other half was because she sincerely doubted that she would be alive in a week's time. It was a strange feeling, being so prosaic about her probable imminent demise but it didn't make much sense approaching it in any other manner. After all, they all knew first hand just what happened to people who were no longer of use to the serial killer. And she was well aware that she had just free fallen into that category quite neatly. As far as he was concerned, she was now untrustworthy, unreliable. A weak link, a hazard, a risk or any other number of phrases. That meant that Red John would want to deal with her as soon as possible and she knew it.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door to her boss' office and placed the cased silver disc in clear view along with a rather feeble note of apology. As she closed the door once more, the tears stung at the corner of her eyes. If (and she knew it was a very large 'if') she survived, she would be inevitably arrested for being an accessory to murder, for aiding and abetting Red John. But the information now on Lisbon's desk would provide them with plenty to track him down with and guarantee a conviction. Regardless of what happened to her now, she could only hope that Lisbon or Jane would find the information before anybody else did.

But now, she had to disappear if she wanted to try and survive the impending fallout.

xxx

"Put down your gun, Agent Lisbon."

Lisbon rolled her bottom lip between her teeth and nibbled at the cracked skin as the masked man called her name, his tone forceful. She knew she wasn't in his line of sight and therefore she should be fine. He had to be guessing, assuming that she'd attended because it was the kind of thing that she _did _as proved by the fact she was there at all. There was absolutely no way she had already made such a rookie error as giving away her current location. Instead, she remained steadfast and held onto her breath, waiting for the man's next move.

"I know you're there, Teresa," he continued, saying her given name with a hiss. "And it's only a matter of time before I find you, so you might as well quit while you're ahead."

She watched as the man kept his gun trained on Jane yet allowed his dark eyes to flicker over the scene in front of him. He was shorter than average, yet that didn't really mean much to her, especially as she was well aware of her own petite stature. The voice was unfamiliar, though that didn't matter either way. Whoever it was, they were threatening Jane and attempting to weaken her resolve. Lisbon swallowed deeply when their mystery man circled Jane, getting ever closer to her and she began to dread the outcome of their stalemate.

"If you don't put down your gun and reveal your position, I will shoot Patrick Jane. In five, four, three…"

She tightly screwed up her eyes, took a deep breath and stood out of the shadows, making sure if was clear that she was placing her gun on the floor. Lisbon had a feeling that she would regret the decision, but she just couldn't risk putting Jane's life in danger by calling his bluff. The man nodded, satisfied, before instructing that she slid the gun in his direction along with her taser and cell phone. While keeping his gun pointed directly at Jane, he demanded that Lisbon handcuffed herself, to which all she could do was stare in response, aghast at the very idea.

"Do I need to threaten you again?"

"Okay, okay," she muttered hurriedly, but only after Jane inclined his head slightly, urging her to go along with the crazed man's plans.

"That's better," he replied as she slowly pulled out the cuffs. "I'm sure I can talk Red John into going easy on you as you've behaved so nicely."

Lisbon snorted in response, which earned her an angry glare while the man holstered his own gun and dealt with Jane. When he was happy they were sufficiently bound, he bundled them both into a nondescript van, ready to be driven off to a different location. She hated feeling so lost, so out of control (not helped by the fact she was now unarmed) and wished that everything could be completely different. It took a lot to make her nervous these days, but being blindfolded and bound before being shipped to goodness knew where was enough to bring those emotions simmering to the surface. Her legs felt like jello and she knew that she was shaking violently.

The only comfort was that Jane was seated beside her.

xxx

He didn't like the sounds he could hear in the back of the van alongside him. Jane didn't need his sight to know that she was trying to put a brave face on it all and find a way to regain the upper hand before they reached whatever the destination was. Every so often, he could hear elbows and knees colliding with metal as she attempted to get to her keys to free herself and Lisbon emitted a slight hiss in frustration. He was growing concerned; the way she was thrashing about was putting her at risk of causing herself a more serious injury than just a mere bruise or two.

"Try not to wrestle too much, Lisbon," Jane whispered in a low voice, leaning his head against her shoulder gently. "I'll have those cuffs off you as soon as it's safe."

"I don't like this," she murmured in response, pausing momentarily. "Sorry."

"I know you don't, but we'll get out of this," Jane replied, not even bothering to acknowledge her apology.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I..."

"Shut up, back there."

Jane sighed as Lisbon obeyed instantaneously. If he could have, he'd have wanted to wrap an arm tightly around her to try and help her to relax. The poor woman was as rigid as a board next to him, yet he knew if he dared ask how she was she'd just snap a short 'I'm fine' and act as if he'd personally offended her. He'd personally have preferred to have talked through it as they finally arrived at whatever the location was and were hauled from one place to another. Once locked in a room, as promised and after some fumbling, Jane managed to unlock Lisbon's cuffs. After rubbing her wrists several times, thoroughly relieved to finally be free, she repaid the compliment. They remained silent as they took in their surroundings, looking for potential escape routes, things that could help their sorry situation. It was a reasonable sized basement which had been kept relatively clean and Jane couldn't help but snort at the sheer lack of inventiveness shown by their captors. The door, naturally, was locked and there appeared to be bars on the window, though it was hard to tell in the half-light. A mattress had been slung carelessly in one corner, suggesting that their being whisked to the location was planned. Jane watched as Lisbon allowed herself to slide down one wall and pull her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly. She seemed to have withdrawn back into herself and that hug that he'd have given her earlier suddenly seemed inappropriate.

"Where d'you think we are?"

She shrugged in response to Jane's question.

"Would help if it was daytime, then maybe…."

"Shh."

Lisbon moved suddenly, lying flat on the ground, trying to peer underneath it and straining to hear. Knowing that she could probably see next to nothing, Jane simply sat beside her, listening to the argument between the man who had brought them there and the man he assumed was Red John. Their argument seemed to have grown more and more heated and Lisbon shifted uncomfortably beside him, obviously wishing there was a means to escape their impromptu prison. As a gunshot crackled through the air, Jane felt Lisbon tense beside him and even he had to swallow down the bile in response to the sound of a body collapsing heavily just the other side of the door.

"Consider that a warning," somebody called through to them.

Jane glanced at the woman beside him. They both recognized the voice.

**TBC...**


	11. The Kill

**A/N: **This is for Shelly, who didn't like my evil, evil cliffhanger and requested that I updated this. *nods* Of course, as she asked so nicely, I listened. I'm actually getting a little sad as I only have three chapters left of this. *tear* This has been one of my favourite fics to write in a very long while so I'm actually getting very sad to see it so near the end.

Thank you to: Divinia 'rocks' Serit, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, mtm, Koezh, WildDaisies10, yaba, Frogster, boutondor, Queen Em, phoenixmagic1 and Famous4it for reviewing part ten. You guys completely rock!

x tromana

* * *

**Part Eleven - The Kill**

_Painting my face up for the kill_

They remained in a deathly silence as heavy footsteps walked away from the basement door. Jane glanced over at Lisbon, who had scurried over to the window and sat beneath it. She was hugging her knees again and looked utterly torn. He didn't blame her, she had great respect for the person they both swore they heard speaking to them and therefore the confliction she must have been going through must be utterly devastating. It didn't affect him to quite the same extent. Jane had always been somewhat ambivalent to pretty much every other agent outside the SCU, superiors or otherwise. Such a reveal was never going to hurt him as much, unless it had been Lisbon herself, of course.

"It can't be him," she muttered and Jane's heart broke a little when she looked up at him through tear-stained eyes. "It just can't."

"Lisbon, you need to calm down…"

"Yes, you're right," she answered, dabbing her eye with the sleeve of her jacket. "I'm sorry, I'm being irrational."

"Don't apologize."

Lisbon shook her head and took a deep breath while Jane watched her with a quizzical expression. She really was a funny creature; she absolutely hated the idea of appearing weak in front of others, regardless of the situation. This was the closest Jane had seen her to breaking down since the McTeer debacle. She could easily justify breaking down both then and now, but of course, Lisbon being Lisbon, she wouldn't be able to justify it to herself.

"There's not much we can do right now…"

"D'you… d'you want to sleep?"

"Nah," Jane replied, shaking his head in response. "Not tired. You?"

"No."

She looked physically and emotionally drained, but Jane wasn't in the mood to argue with her decision for once. Instead, he leaned up against the door, mimicking her position and facing her. Maybe, if he'd had a little more confidence, he'd have wrapped his arm around her instead. For now, he'd just have to watch her instead, rather guiltily taking solace in the fact that he didn't have to be Red John's hostage alone.

xxx

Van Pelt sighed as she pulled out her makeup case and slowly went about her morning routine. She wasn't quite sure why she felt the desperate desire to put on her makeup, it wasn't as if anyone of any importance was going to see her. In fact, if she could get away with it, nobody was going to see her apart from the motel staff bringing her the occasional meal. They certainly didn't care about what state she looked, but then again, they probably suspected that she was waiting to meet someone for salacious reasons. She knew she was reasonably pretty and people did jump to conclusions so very quickly. Sighing, she zipped up the flowery bag once she had finished applying the cosmetic products. It was just routine which she'd succumbed to and besides, at least it killed a few minutes.

She switched on the television and snorted when some wildlife program about lions flickered onto the screen. Funny how that seemed to be the only thing available in places like this. Still, she left it blaring, knowing full well that it was going to provide her only entertainment excepting meal times and her nightly routine. In a couple of days time, she'd move on from this shabby motel, but for now, she felt safer purely remaining in her room. The more she moved around the town, the more likely someone could spot her and get either the police or Red John on her tail. Frankly, she preferred the former to the latter. It had been proved several times that Red John's power didn't expand to jail and therefore, if she had to go anywhere, at least she'd be safer there And even though being a cop would mark her out amongst the other inmates, being alive was far preferable to not. She was terrified about the outcome for both Jane and Lisbon. Neither of them deserved to be preyed upon by Red John, but if she did anything, it would put her in the line of fire even moreso than she already was. Besides, she had faith in them. They'd be able to get through it without her meddling - she'd done enough damage as it was.

A floorboard creaked outside and Van Pelt jumped out of her reverie, quickly checking that her gun was in reach. She made note to complain about it when the elderly lady came up to take her lunch order. But somebody was at her door, roughly pulling at the handle and obviously not in possession of a key. She knew it wasn't the team, or any other cops for that matter, because nobody had called to announce their entrance. That meant it was him. Red John. He'd obviously managed to track her down and she seriously regretted that latte she'd brought on the road. That was probably how he'd managed to track her down to this location and this was the cheapest motel in town. Grabbing her gun and standing flush to a wall, Van Pelt held her breath as the door swung open.

"You? You're Red John?"

"Oh don't look so surprised, Van Pelt."

"But… how?"

"How? Honestly? I thought you were meant to be bright."

Van Pelt kept her gun trained on the new arrival in her room. He approached her, his knife blade glinting in the morning light and she briefly wondered how many of his other victims had this much of a warning before their death. Luckily for her, she was armed and swiftly, she clicked off the safety catch and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't come any closer."

"You do realize you're just stalling the inevitable, don't you?"

"A bullet is faster than a person with a knife blade."

"Try it," he leered (though she'd never imagined _him_ leering at her before) and took a step closer. "Go on, try it."

As instructed, she squeezed the trigger, to no avail. Swiftly, she checked the weapon to see that the bullets had been removed and the man edged ever closer, tapping his pocket, filling the room with a metallic rattle. The young woman's mouth formed an 'o' as she realized that he'd obviously managed to deal with it at some time, probably by visiting the CBI and 'catching up' with things that had happened since he left.

Half an hour later and Van Pelt's body fell to the ground in a crumpled, bloody heap. He'd grown bored of taunting her, something which happened quite a lot lately whenever he was taking the life of individuals. Red John stretched his arms, relishing in the feeling of the muscles moving in his upper back and relaxing slightly. Young Van Pelt had really given him quite a fight. It should have been an enjoyable death and stylistically, it was one of his better ones. And he knew full well that the cops should be all over it like moths to a flame, but knowing that Lisbon and Jane were trapped in his basement bought him time.

Really, he was getting far too old for this. Two more murders and then he'd give it up. Slip back into his happy, respectable family life as if he'd never lived a dual life in the first place.

Just two more and then he would hang up his blade for good.

xxx

Cho looked up at the clock for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. He was alone in the bullpen and frankly, concerned. There was nobody to distract him either, considering the fact that Rigsby was on suspension. It was ten to ten and still no sign of Van Pelt, Lisbon and Jane. Jane, he wasn't worried about. The consultant came and went as he pleased and it wasn't unusual for them not to see him for days on end or for him to suddenly turn up somewhere unexpectedly. But the other two? Well, Van Pelt was obsessively punctual, desperate to make a good impression and as for Lisbon herself, she would arrive on time to the second and even if she had a meeting, she liked to make her presence known to the rest of the team. Cho glanced at his cell phone and fingered it gently. He'd rang Lisbon's cell phone and she hadn't answered, something which was strange in itself. Still, he couldn't help but worry that he was being too jumpy. Was it too soon for him to call Rigsby for a second opinion?

With a sigh, he dialed the number and waited for Rigsby to answer. It couldn't hurt and besides, Van Pelt may have decided to have a lie in with her boyfriend or something. Wouldn't shred any light on Lisbon (or Jane, for that matter) but better to check on one of them than none at all.

Rigsby sounded overly tired and snappish when he eventually answered Cho's call, obviously having just woken up from a very lie in. Cho wasn't surprised, if he was on extended leave, he'd take the opportunity to sleep in as much as physically possible too. After informing him of the conundrum, Rigsby announced that he would be at the headquarters within half an hour. Telling him that Van Pelt appeared to be missing was more than enough to get him into action and adding the fact that the boss had disappeared too only added to Rigsby's concern.

True to his word, the tall agent rounded the corner at twenty past ten with two black coffees in hand. It didn't take long for them to settle into work. With some level of guilt, Cho opted to scout around in Lisbon's office while Rigsby took to Van Pelt's computer, hoping that because he was dating her that it would make some of her passwords more obvious to him. It didn't take him long to find the recorded message from Red John and just as he started listening to it for the second time, Cho emerged from Lisbon's office with the CD-rom from Van Pelt.

"Hey, I think Jane and Lisbon have been lured into a trap by Red John," Rigsby stated, running a hand through his head. "We don't even know if…"

"Don't say it," Cho said a little forcefully.

"Did you find anything useful?"

"This."

Rigsby tentatively took the note from Cho and quickly scanned the piece of paper. He recognized the handwriting, of course, but could barely process the words. Quickly, he handed it back to Cho and shook his head disbelievingly.

"No. I don't believe it. Van Pelt wouldn't do something like that."

**TBC…**


	12. Hiding

**A/N: **I'm probably going to focus on getting this finished as I really want to reduce the number of ongoing fics I currently have. It's getting a little bit ridiculous now and besides, this only had 2 chapters left. That being said, the next thing I'll write is an update of _Better to Have Loved_. Hopefully. Provided it will co-operate with me, which it hasn't been of late. Anyway. Enough moaning.

Thank you to: Divinia 'crackle' Serit, mtm, WildDaisies10, yaba, phoenixmagic1, Frogster, Koezh, Sarcasm-The Lowest Form of Wit, boutondor and Famous4it for reviewing part eleven.

Just a warning, fluff!Tracie came out to play for a while. I know, I know. Shocking. I'm putting her back in her box for a while now.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Twelve - Hiding**

_I've been hiding from the world and from myself_

It didn't take Cho long to find out where Van Pelt had rented out the room. He'd been faintly impressed, she'd covered up the best she could but still, if he could find it so easily, that meant Red John probably could too. Rigsby merely scowled at him occasionally, when he had the energy to lift his head from his hands. The taller agent had positioned himself of Jane's couch, figuring that the consultant wouldn't know or mind that he'd settled on it while Cho went about the computer work. He still couldn't believe that Van Pelt, of all people, had been Red John's mole. She'd never shown a single hint to make it even cross his mind. Hell, Rigsby would have suspected Jane himself before Van Pelt, but that may have been because he had a habit of wearing rose colored glasses when it came to the red head.

Even as they were traveling to the address that Cho had discovered, Rigsby couldn't believe it. He was still trying to work out how she'd managed to keep such a major aspect of her life secret. There were some major missing pieces to the jigsaw puzzle that he needed to get hold of before he could even comprehend such a thing. Though he hadn't clued into the secret life she'd apparently lived, had Jane? And if he had, why hadn't he told anyone? It didn't help that he didn't feel much like discussing his feelings with Cho. The Asian agent wasn't exactly the best person to be bouncing feelings off of. Sure, they could have a laugh at work, tease each other and the like but when it came to actual feelings? He was almost as bad as the boss when it came to talking about how he really felt. Besides, he probably didn't doubt Van Pelt's note purely because it was written in her handwriting, but there was nothing saying she hadn't written it under duress and been whisked away to the motel for… for, well, something. Rigsby didn't really want to think about what that something was until he actually had to. If he had to. She could still be perfectly fine and this called all be some kind of sick, twisted and early April Fool's joke.

Of course, that all changed when he cracked the door open to the dank and dingy motel room and immediately spotted Red John's trademark bloody smile, illuminated by the light coming through the slit of the curtains. Crime scenes rarely had an affect on him, but the sight of Van Pelt's butchered body, her perfect skin marred by massive slashes to her chest and abdomen, was enough to send him immediately running for the bathroom. Even Cho wore an expression slightly different to his normal deadpan look, appearing to feel a little queasy too. Despite what she had done, it was hard to disconnect Van Pelt the mole from Van Pelt the unit member and therefore, he still felt as if he was looking upon the bloodied body of one of their own.

Though he didn't vocalize it, knowing full well that Rigsby had more than enough on his mind and could well have made the same connection anyway, Cho couldn't help but grow more and more fearful for the safety of Lisbon and Jane.

Still, he had a job to do. Regardless of what Van Pelt had done, they still had to try and catch her killer despite the fact that Red John was more elusive than the rarest of the big cats in Africa. Though he knew that Red John was highly unlikely to have left any clues, he scoured the small room, looking for anything that could help them. Frowning, he spotted a small something partially obscured by Van Pelt's left hip. Pulling on some latex gloves, he carefully extracted it to discover it was a passport. Flicking it open, his eyes widened when he spotted who the owner was and he called Rigsby, who was looking paler by the second over.

"I've found something," Cho enunciated, holding the official document open so Rigsby could see the details of the owner.

"No way," Rigsby breathed, looking at the passport with an almost rapturous gaze. "If it hasn't just been planted here, when the A.G. finds out about this, he's gonna go insane."

xxx

Jane watched as Lisbon shifted uncomfortably on the mattress. In the space of two hours, she had slowly moved from her spot underneath the window onto the lumpy thing and was currently fighting against sleep. They hadn't spoken, not since Red John had called out to them and Jane wasn't even sure he wanted to. There was too much… stuff… going on and he was scared that if they started talking, then everything would seem so much more real and he wouldn't be able to keep hold of his emotional control. He was still trying to process the knowledge of who Red John was though and Jane couldn't quite believe that he'd been under his nose, almost literally for all these years. And as _he_ was struggling with that comprehension, he didn't even want to think about what was going through Lisbon's mind. Jane sighed, knowing full well that in doing so it would irritate her, but he didn't care. He had to get out his frustrations somehow and hitting a brick wall again wouldn't help.

"How's your hand?"

Her voice was muffled by the thin down pillow that had been provided. Lisbon had buried her face into it and she hadn't even the energy to turn and face him anyway.

"What did you say?"

"Your hand. How is it?" she repeated, shifting her position slightly, just enough to make her voice more audible.

"That old thing? Fine."

"Liar."

"Hypocrite."

"You're one to talk."

He couldn't resist baiting her. Maybe he should have considering they were trapped in this makeshift prison together and couldn't exactly escape each other like usual, but still. He was getting frustrated and justifiably so. Why the hell did she have to play the tough woman all the while? It was getting ridiculous. He knew Lisbon was a private person, but really, she was allow to show some emotions sometimes rather than keeping it all hidden away. She shivered violently and instinctively pulled her limbs in closer, folding herself into a tight ball, as if that would stop heat from radiating away from her body. She'd kicked off the threadbare sheet and hadn't even noticed the fact. Hardly surprising, considering just how thin it was.

"You're cold."

"I'm fine," she replied, her voice indistinct once again.

"You know, you don't always have to act so brave," Jane stated lightly and she opened her mouth to retort, but he cut over her with ease. "Scoot over."

"What?"

"I want to lay down too."

"Thought you weren't tired?" she quipped, rather sarcastically.

"I am now," he lied.

"I don't believe you."

Despite what she said, Lisbon obliged and he curled up beside her on the mattress clearly designed for one. She didn't flinch as he wrapped an arm tightly around her waist, his bandaged hand resting on her abdomen and was relieved when she her breathing started to slow down again. This was far better than arguing, he quickly decided. Not entirely sure what was coming over him, he nuzzled his head into her neck and gently placed a few feather light kisses on the exposed skin.

"What are you doing?" she mumbled, though she didn't try and pull away.

"Kissing you. I hope you don't mind."

She shook her head gently, her hair tickling Jane's nose. It was strange, she really didn't mind. Lisbon had a feeling that even if she did mind, he wouldn't have stopped anyway. Still, she wasn't quite confident enough to suggest he kissed her somewhere which wasn't the back of her neck though. Maybe later. It felt like they were going to be trapped in the basement for the long haul, after all. And she doubted that they'd make it out of there alive, too. Lisbon took a deep breath and allowed it out again in calm, controlled manner. The prospect of imminent death made you strangely accepting of things that you'd normally shy away from, she decided.

xxx

Rigsby had bailed out on him. Cho could hardly blame him, the other agent was practically catatonic due to the reveal of Van Pelt's dual life and Cho knew that it would take some getting over. Elise, after all, had been somewhat shocked when he had announced out of the blue that he'd been deeply embroiled in gang culture once. Of course, this was slightly different. Cho had been talking about his former life, where the thing with Van Pelt was current and the taller agent was no doubt blaming himself for not picking up on the signs and potentially preventing this sticky situation. And of course, he loved the woman and was having to accept the fact that she had been doing something which they saw as being inherently evil.

So instead, Cho was going it alone. His fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly as he drove to Minelli's house in silence. It was hardly surprising. No Jane or Lisbon to argue voraciously over case points or crazy stunts, no Rigsby lamenting the fact that they'd run out of food. No Van Pelt wondering whether or not she was doing her job well enough. He shivered slightly. One team member had already fallen, though considering what she'd been doing, it was probably inevitable. Cho wondered the rest of them would get through this alive.

He'd decided to go to Minelli's because he really had no idea where else to go. The alleyway was clearly just a meet-point and the ex-director may well have left some hints, whether it be addresses or keys to locations where he could be holding Jane and Lisbon, alive hopefully. As soon as he arrived, he typed a quick message into his cell phone, organizing for it to send to the boss of the CBI provided he didn't cancel it within a day. Then, he slipped out of the black SUV, locked the vehicle and started scouring the grounds. There were no signs of any criminal activity, though the garden looked like a proverbial bombsite due to Minelli's grandson's massive array of toys having been sprawled across the lawn. Cho breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered the front door key, simply left underneath one of the few plant pots that were still in one piece. Closing his eyes, he withdrew his gun from its holster before slipping the key into the lock and entering the property. To hell with search warrants, this was his boss and Jane he was looking for.

The moment he opened the basement door, Jane and Lisbon sprang apart, having previously been milliseconds from sharing a kiss. An actual kiss, on the lips, rather than the pressing of lips to bare skin which Jane had been indulging in earlier, not that Cho knew that. Upon spotting her second in command, Lisbon breathed a sigh of relief and pushed Jane away. She was unbelievably relieved to see Cho and though he'd obviously interrupted a somewhat intimate moment, Cho was pleased that they were both still alive and well.

"Cho…" Lisbon started and somebody cleared a voice from behind him.

Seconds later, he felt the barrel of the gun pressing directly into the small of his back and he glanced over her shoulder to see Virgil Minelli scowling at him.

"Breaking and entering is a felony, Agent Cho," Minelli remarked lightly.

"And kidnapping isn't?"

"Come now, Lisbon and Jane are hardly kids. Give me your weapon and phone."

Cho glanced at Lisbon who nodded slightly and he obliged. A smile which would previously seemed engaging and friendly, but now simply appeared as a scowl erupted across Minelli's face as he took Cho's belongings and promptly deleted the message as he had done with Lisbon's a mere eight hours earlier. After handing Cho a bottle of water he pushed him lightly into the room to join the others.

That was an unexpected twist, Minelli decided as he locked and bolted the door to his basement. But he'd long since learned to expect unexpected when it came to the CBI's Serious Crimes Unit.

**TBC…**


	13. Love

**A/N: **Look, Snap, I said I'd post something today. *pokes out tongue* And it decided to play up as well. I think it's because it's the penultimate chapter.

Thanks to Crackle for quickly betaing and to: boutondor, mtm, Ebony10, WildDaisies10, Koezh, yaba, Frogster, JLluv, Divinia Serit, lil smiles, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, phoenixmagic1 and Famous4it for reviewing part twelve.

Right, now I think I'm gonna work on a five times for the rest of tonight.

x pop

* * *

**Part Thirteen - Love**

_Wanting love so desperately  
__Oh so desperately_

"Don't go down to the basement, it's dangerous down there!"

"Yes, Grandpa!"

Nathanial nodded enthusiastically as Minelli spoke to him and beamed when the old man ruffled his dark hair affectionately. He loved his grandpa and he was the only relative who he listened to the every instruction of. His Mom irritated him, he never saw his dad, so his grandfather had pretty much become his role model. The young boy was aware that his grandpa had once been a cop, so had his heart set on becoming one when he grew up too, to the extent that his favorite clothing was the dress-up cop's uniform that his Mom had bought him for Christmas last year.

Minelli watched with softened eyes as the boy tore out onto the lawn, rushing from place to place, using his fingers in the place of a gun and making sound effects every time he 'shot' a criminal. The boy was full of energy and Minelli loved him dearly, possibly even more than he'd ever loved his daughter. He was the real reason he was giving up the Red John game, letting the serial killer aspect of his life die, figuratively speaking. He wanted to be there when Nate grew up and see the boy become the cop he desperately wanted to be.

That and it was no longer fun. When he first started killing, it was all about the motives. Justifying why each woman needed to die. Killing those who couldn't - or wouldn't - be convicted by the courts. That one had been a prostitute, that one had cheated on her husband and another had evaded a murder charge. Things started getting more interesting when Patrick Jane was on his tail and from that point on, it had simply become a game. He had enjoyed outmaneuvering the trickster time and time again. That was part of the reason he'd insisted upon employing him within the CBI - it appeared to open up doors for the blond, when in reality it had just kept him under Minelli's scrutinizing eye.

He'd never imagined that Jane would grow bored with chasing him. Well, not bored exactly, more distracted. By a certain Teresa Lisbon, to be specific. When he first placed Jane under Lisbon's watchful gaze he never for a second thought that he'd be able to get past any of her boundaries, but of late, he seemed to have been making some success. All it took was one crack and he'd managed to worm his way in. And now, now he was enjoying himself with the senior agent, he seemed to have starting caring less about Red John. Minelli wasn't a generally a jealous man, except when it came to Jane. Without Jane focusing his attention completely on the search for the murderer who killed his wife, Minelli had found himself growing uninspired. Combined with Nate's presence in his life, that meant the decision to stop came quite naturally.

But Minelli didn't like loose ends. That's why all three inhabitants of his basement had to die. And Rigsby too, provided he hadn't already driven himself off a cliff over young Van Pelt's demise. He'd leave Van Pelt's family be. They had no evidence, it would simply appear to be slander, probably invented out of the sheer grief of losing their only child.

Besides, if he was serious about quitting the job, he might as well go out with a bang.

xxx

He was pleasantly surprised when he found out from Van Pelt's cousin, Yolanda, that his deceased girlfriend's parents had been on holiday in Los Angeles. Thus, it meant the dreaded journey took him far shorter than he initially expected. Informing parents that their child had died was difficult and not exactly something that somebody respectable did over the telephone. That was half the reason Rigsby had refused to accompany Cho to Minelli's. He was also still slightly skeptical about the ex-director's involvement at all, but had a feeling that was because he didn't want to accept the man could commit such heinous crimes as he hadn't wanted to accept Van Pelt's. Still hadn't, really, as he turned up the driveway to their summer home.

Rigsby hadn't realized that Van Pelt's family had been well off enough to even be able to afford two homes, but money was hardly a conversation that crops up when love was just blossoming, so he hadn't felt too insulted either. After he killed the engine, he paused for a while, fingering the wallet containing his badge in his pocket. How the hell was he meant to approach this? As a boyfriend? As a police officer? Technically, he was both but it was difficult enough telling somebody that their relative had died under normal conditions. He certainly didn't envy Lisbon when it came to that task and was relieved that it was usually her who had to do that. But she wasn't here to pick up the pieces and he could only hope that Cho would find her alive and well as he tapped apprehensively on the ostentatious front door.

"Hello?"

A slip of a woman, with crinkles at the eyes and auburn hair answered the door. Rigsby faltered slightly as he faced her. The facial similarities between Mrs. Van Pelt and her daughter were blindingly obvious and Rigsby found himself having to blink back the tears. After a garbled explanation of who he was, Van Pelt's mother invited him inside and after they'd settled in the lounge, along with her husband and a cup of hot tea, Rigsby informed them of what his position had been in their daughter's life and then, as gently as possible, that she had died.

When he brought up that she had been killed by Red John, neither of her parents seemed particularly surprised. He became particularly relieved that he had managed to inform them that he was a cop when the woman, despite her husband's apprehension told him the whole reasoning for Van Pelt's working for Red John. How her life had been in jeopardy and her husband had bartered for her safety, using Grace as a bartering chip. How it had been agreed that Van Pelt would become a cop with the specific purpose of being able to pass information directly onto Red John, how she'd be able to update him on the precise progress of the team. They'd known that Red John had worked for the CBI too, though they'd never dared tell. They also knew that Van Pelt's position meant that Red John would be able to get the precise detail he needed from the team, especially after he left, which he wouldn't have been privy too otherwise. She had managed to provide him a unique insight into Lisbon and her team. It was just a case of, at the time, they hadn't realized that once their daughter proved to be unreliable, that she would die almost immediately.

The only reason they'd decided to tell all was because they feared for their own safety now that she was gone and that no longer placed them in safety where the serial killer was concerned.

"I didn't think it would end up like this, I promise you that, Wayne."

Rigsby flinched and nodded as the woman placed what was meant to be an affectionate hand on his left shoulder and squeezed it gently. Neither of them looked as if they had just received the devastating news that their child had just died a particularly gruesome death. If anything, they both seemed relieved that their own skins were safe and the lack of emotion demonstrated as much. He knew that he was even more of a mess than both of them put together but he knew it would be out of place for him to practically demand they show some kind of emotion. Besides, different people grieved differently, though these two didn't seem to be mourning their loss at all.

As he left, he had to swallow down the bile that had been rising in his throat. He had little to no respect for Van Pelt's family now. Any that he could have had had disappeared in a flash the moment they had informed him they had pretty much sacrificed their daughter's life for their own.

Besides, he needed to get to Minelli's now. And fast.

xxx

They were leaning against three separate walls. It seemed to Jane that if any one of them moved, they'd be scared of the whole building coming down around the ears. He'd just gotten used to the solid weight of Lisbon's body laying beside his and had even managed to snatch a good hour or so of sleep. The feeling of her chest rising and falling under his arm had been comforting and given their current situation, he'd wanted to grab as much comfort as he could. While he was grateful for Cho and his half-baked solo rescue mission, he couldn't help but feel a little bitter. If the Asian agent hadn't turned up, he'd still be laying on that old mattress with Lisbon in his arms, heck, he'd have even kissed her properly too. Instead, she kept shooting guilty gazes in his direction, almost as if she regretted how they'd landed up behaving, despite the fact it was entirely natural for hostage victims to seek solace any way they could.

Lisbon opened her mouth slightly to start speaking, but promptly clamped it shut once more. Almost as soon as Minelli had left them be, Cho had updated them on the situation, specifically about Van Pelt's deception and subsequent death. She wasn't entirely sure which she was more shocked about and was kind of relieved that she had the silence to mull it over and get to grips with the new knowledge. If she'd been on her own, she might have become angry, raged a little and shown her frustration, but as she had company, it meant she had to deal with everything in a more composed manner. Or maybe, it was simply because it hadn't been the most surprising thing to happen in the week. Whatever the reason, she still had to try and work out an escape route. To try and get the two subordinates who were in this mess with her out of this situation unscathed.

All three of them glanced at the door, staring at it with matching hawk-like expressions when they heard footsteps coming downstairs. It came as no surprise and almost a twisted sense of relief when Minelli's voice called through the door. Lisbon hadn't realized just how hungry she was getting and by the looks of it, Jane and Cho were feeling somewhat the same. But still, this was their chance. There was three of them and just the one of him, after all. And she knew there was a kid outside, his grandson, according to Cho. Minelli wouldn't risk doing anything illegal in front of the young boy.

"Teresa, I want you to use the rope to tie Cho's hands and then handcuff Jane and yourself. If you want this food that is," Minelli called.

Lisbon immediately noted the use of her given name rather than surname and tried not to think much about it. There was more important things to be thinking about rather than Minelli's mind games. She had thought it would have been easy for the three of them to overpower Minelli should the door open. So much for strength in numbers. She should have known that Minelli would think to demand they immobilize themselves in exchange for food. Cho nodded slightly in agreement and tied the rope around his hands as lightly as possible. Lisbon smiled briefly when she saw his fingers immediately start working at the feeble excuse for a knot as she carried out the rest of Minelli's instructions as slowly as physically possible.

It didn't surprise her, however, when the door eventually opened to see no food and instead _her _Glock held tightly in the murderer's gloved hand. Briefly, a smirk flittered across her face. It seemed that they were obviously special enough for him to break MO. But then again, there'd hardly been anything normal about this run in with Red John. Notably, they'd had the answer to his identity and it was Virgil Minelli who was walking a few steps in, looking at his hostages in an almost appraising manner.

"Cho? Come here," he spoke, holstering the gun as he did so, obviously wanting to show that he wasn't a threat for now.

Cho glanced at Lisbon and Jane before taking a few steps towards Minelli. He'd pretty much been able to get rid of the rope in the time that Lisbon had taken to cuff herself and Jane and was about to punch Minelli when he received a reeling blow to his own head. His eyes were watering as the older man roughly pushed his left shoulder to make him turn around and fastened the rope to a more satisfactory level before shoving him back to the other two. Cho glanced quickly at Lisbon apologetically as she shrugged her shoulders slightly. She knew that she wouldn't have been able to do much better had their roles been reversed.

"V- Virgil," she stuttered, regretting the fact that she sounded so scared and wishing that Jane hadn't chosen that moment to fall into such an uncharacteristic silence. "You don't have to do this."

"Oh Teresa, you know full well I do."

Minelli reached forward and allowed a hand to stroke against her cheek. She swallowed. Lisbon had respected him so much and now it appeared she was being executed by the man she had once seen as her mentor and friend.

As he took a few steps back and pulled out the gun once more, Lisbon tightly scrunched up her eyes, to the extent that she could see flashing lights darting here and there. She didn't want to know, or see, what could happen next. Virgil Minelli was practically crazed and any one of them could die now. Or all of them, which right now, seemed the most likely answer.

She allowed her left eye to open ever so slightly. Minelli seemed to have made his decision and she wasn't entirely surprised to see the barrel of her own gun pointing directly at her chest. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes again and offered a silent prayer. At least it would be over quickly.

Two shots exploded. And for two of the current occupants of Minelli's basement, everything went black.

**TBC…**

* * *

**A/N:** I never normally do two of these things, but I can't resist: muwhahahahahahahaha.


	14. Mystery

**A/N: **One, I can't believe I've finished this. Two, certain characters completely took over this chapter. Blame them, not me. Three, this is a rather long two-shot isn't it? Four, thank you to EVERYONE who has stuck by me with this, especially so to Snap for giving me the prompt (and pointing and laughing when I said it was going out of control) and Crackle for calming me down whenever I have had a confidence crisis.

Thanks to: Divinia Serit, AlternativeRocker, Koezh, WildDaisies10, Frogster, boutondor, MentalistLover, fan of mentalist, Firebreather23, Famous4it, Simonisthecuttestmentalist, yaba and phoenixmagic1 for reviewing part thirteen. Especially so to MentalistLover, fan of mentalist and Firebreather23, all of whom reviewed anonymously.

And yup, I couldn't leave you with that cliffhanger for too long. I'm not *that* cruel.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Fourteen - Mystery**

_There's no mystery._

"Jane, I was shot in the _shoulder_, I can still walk."

Lisbon glared at Jane as he took a couple of steps backwards. She'd been hospitalized for just over a fortnight and under sedation for three days of that, so it was hardly surprising that he was being so overprotective. It was sweet, though draining, especially as Lisbon believed she wasn't designed for such coddling. After all, it was one thing knowing that somebody cared about your well-being and another entirely having them as your shadow. Still, she was relieved to be discharged, earlier than expected. That was mainly due to her incessant complaining and Jane's promise to keep an eye on her while she recuperated. Of course, that was going to take some while, what with the physiotherapy, rebuilding strength and such but at least she wasn't going to be going insane in hospital any longer.

"You nearly died," Jane lamented, looking at her with a wide eyed expression. "I'd have thought you could forgive me for being a little concerned."

"How many times are you going to remind me of that?"

"If it wasn't for Rigsby…"

"If it wasn't for Rigsby, we'd all be dead," she muttered under her breath. "Can we go now?"

"Yes. And no, you're not driving."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that."

"Do you have everything?"

"Yes, Jane."

"Have you got your medication?"

"_Yes_, Jane."

"What about…"

"Can we just get going? Please?"

Jane rolled his eyes as he grabbed Lisbon's bag of belongings and she caught sight of it. They both knew that he was only trying to think of her, almost for a change, but her patience was wearing thin. Since Red John's, or rather, Minelli's, death, Jane had transferred pretty much all of his attention to the brunette, partially because he hadn't anything better to do and also because he hadn't really considered what to do with his life now that he didn't have to use all his time and energy on trying to catch a serial killer. It was official, he was gone. Case closed and all that. Jane hadn't even bothered going into work and had simply accepted the compassionate leave he'd been offered instead. He wasn't even angry with Rigsby for taking away his opportunity of revenge, not that he'd have been able to do much, merely relieved that he had arrived in time to save the woman he sort of, kind of, maybe liked. Quite a lot. That he'd managed to fire the shot milliseconds before Minelli, making the ex-director's shot go slightly wide, even if it still managed to catch Lisbon in the shoulder. That Rigsby had managed to do something where all he could do himself was freeze.

And though he knew it would annoy the hell out of Lisbon, he wasn't going to let her out of his sight for quite some time. She could have had another day off work and everybody would have understood, but she had immediately insisted that he drove her straight to CBI headquarters. Even when hospitalized, she'd insisted upon being kept up to date on any open cases they had and several times, Jane had walked into her private room to see her studying various files, with a frown knitted prettily across her brow. And she had the audacity to tell him off for worrying. One of these days, she'd drive herself into the ground. Jane smiled slightly to himself. He'd have to teach her how to relax for a change.

"Is it okay for you to come into work today, Boss?"

Cho glanced at Lisbon warily and she narrowed her eyes in response. She knew she should be grateful on many levels, not least the fact that through some kind of miracle her team - Cho, Rigsby and Jane - were still intact and together. The reshuffle ordered by the A.G. had been pretty violent, especially amongst Lisbon's superiors and she knew that there was going to be a new way of doing things. People were still fuming at the fact that not only Minelli, but Van Pelt had managed to slip through the cracks and therefore, they had to be a lot more careful. Still, she'd been hoping that when she actually arrived at work, people would stop being so overly attentive.

"Yes, what is it with people today?"

"People are just showing concern, Lisbon…"

"If you dare say it one more time," she growled, glancing quickly at Jane who looked suitably cowed once he came underneath her fiery gaze. "Go do something useful. Like finding your couch."

"Meh, I can do that any time."

Rigsby approached them, looking uncharacteristically nervous and Lisbon offered him a gentle smile. He stood in front of her rocking from foot to foot. Though he was comfortable with his decision, he was overwhelmingly uncomfortable with actually telling Lisbon. Despite everything that had gone on, he knew she would still be a little disappointed with what he had chosen to do, but he wasn't going to change his mind. Couldn't change his mind. Everything had been such a fiasco and the reshuffle had only made him feel even more uncomfortable.

"Can I have a word with you?" he asked quietly and Cho, realizing what he was about to do immediately made himself scarce, dragging Jane away by the elbow. "In private?"

"Of course Rigsby."

He followed her into her office and Lisbon looked incredibly relaxed and relieved to be back in there. As she eased herself carefully into her chair, Rigsby looked terrified that she was going to do more damage to herself, but calmed down slightly when he realized she was actually fine. He knew that she was still in pain and having to take some quite heavy duty painkillers just to be able to get through the day, but he hated seeing her suffering. Especially as he still believed that if he'd arrived there just a few minutes earlier, then she wouldn't have been hurt at all.

"I need to thank you," she started, observing him with interest. "You saved us all."

"I was just doing my job."

"Don't be ridiculous."

Rigsby took a deep breath, knowing that he needed to change the subject.

"I didn't want to talk to you about that…"

Lisbon nodded. She had a feeling she knew what was coming next.

"I want to leave."

"Are you sure there's nothing I can say to make you change your decision, Wayne?" Lisbon asked, knowing full well she wouldn't be able to sway his decision, but she had to ask. "My shoulder is making any paperwork surprisingly difficult."

"I'm sorry, Boss," he said, stumbling slightly over the word 'boss', offering her a weak smile. "I mean… Teresa. I've made my decision."

"Well, if you ever want to come back…"

"I know. Thank you. It's been an honor."

"Take care, Wayne," she murmured as he headed to the door. "Keep in touch."

"I will."

Rigsby left, feeling somewhat hollow inside. It was sad, leaving the CBI, but he couldn't face working there anymore. Especially not after finding out about Grace and how she'd managed to pull the wool over his eyes, over all their eyes. And then there was having to kill Minelli. Rigsby had respected the man almost as much as Lisbon had and to find out that he was on Red John had left his belief in the system very much shaken, to the extent that he needed out. He knew Lisbon would still do a good job though and he was glad that she had decided to stay on. The CBI without Teresa Lisbon was virtually inconceivable, but he needed, at the very least, a break from it, even if the break was more than likely to remain permanent. Besides, he still loved firefighting and he hoped his experience at the CBI would help the Sacramento Fire Department no end. Cho passed Rigsby who was deep in thought, knowing full well what conversation he'd just had. He'd warned Cho that he was resigning two days ago and the Asian agent had been a little disappointed to see him go, but didn't blame him. As Rigsby headed to his desk to clear away his belongings, he walked into Lisbon's office, with an arm full of paperwork. It was not his place to judge anybody's decisions on how to react to the situation. All he knew was that he personally was still more than happy to work underneath Lisbon, to carry on catching bastards who thought it was fine to carry out heinous crimes and bring about a little justice in the world.

"Don't say you're bailing out on me too, Cho."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Boss," he answered immediately. "Just some files for you to look at. Including that second DNA test proving Minelli was Rachel Lovett's father, not Seabrook."

"Well at least that gets Seabrook off the hook. He'll be pleased."

"Will probably sue though."

"Just what the CBI needs, another lawsuit. Especially considering everything that's going on."

"You're good at your job. Don't doubt yourself."

"I know, thanks Cho."

It was several hours later before she was disturbed again. Jane shambled in loaded with plastic bags and soon made himself comfortable in front of her. She tutted and sighed, waiting for him to get his face out of one of the bags before she even bothered trying to get his attention. At least she'd had some peace and quiet to get some work done, though it hadn't really stopped her wondering where he had disappeared to. Lisbon knew Jane - and as he'd promised to keep an eye on her, she knew he'd take it quite literally. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if she woke up at night to see him staring at her.

"Where have you been?"

"Cooking."

"Cooking?"

"Yeah, at your house. It's closer than mine."

"What was wrong with the kitchen supplies here?"

"Far too inadequate," he responded as he placed a Tupperware box and a fork in front of her. "Eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"You will be if you don't. Besides, it's pasta with my famous red sauce."

"Please. Your red sauce isn't famous."

"Well, maybe not, but it is pretty good."

"Are you going to eat?"

"Already have. I had a sandwich."

"Jane…"

"I said I'd look after you. That includes regular meals," he stated, plucking the file she'd been holding out of her hands. "If you don't behave, I shall withhold your paperwork."

"Oh no, whatever shall I do?"

With narrowed eyes, she peeled back the lid and her office was quickly filled with the aroma of the hot food. Maybe Jane was right, she was actually feeling pretty hungry. Arguing over food was pretty silly, so it was best to appease him, especially as he could be as stubborn as she was and she really didn't like cold pasta. Tentatively, she loaded her fork up with food before taking a nervous sniff of it. It was something she'd always done since childhood. If something was new to her, she'd check it like that first.

"Something wrong?"

"No, I… always do that."

"I know," he smirked, "it's cute."

"You're odd."

"You've only just worked that one out?"

"Shut up, I'm eating."

"No you're not."

In retaliation, she shoved a forkful of pasta and sauce into her mouth and started chewing thoughtfully. He was up to something and she wasn't quite sure what.

"You know, this is pretty good."

"Oh good, because I don't think I could stand the idea of dating somebody who didn't like my red sauce."

Lisbon choked slightly on a piece of pasta and Jane swiftly handed her a glass of water. When she had finished her coughing fit, she eyed him seriously.

"You cannot be serious."

"Why not?"

"We'd… we'd fight all the while. And… and you never listen to me."

"Yeah, that's a really convincing argument."

"Oh hush."

"Come on, just the one date."

"Fine. So long as you stop handling me with kid gloves. I'm not about to fall apart at the seams."

Placing the cutlery back down, she rose to her feet, walked around her desk, with Jane's eyes following her every move. Briefly, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before placing a chaste kiss on Jane's lips. Before he had a chance to respond, she pulled away and he grinned at her, with an expression that very much resembled the cat that got the canary.

"Now that's not acting as if this is a one date thing."

"Oh I know you. You're already planning on how to make sure it lasts longer than that. Go scheme on your couch or something. I have work to do."

"And food to eat."

"And food to eat," she echoed before smiling slightly. "Now go."

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh and Jane?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

She shook her head. Jane was a strange creature and it might just be fun, seeing what he was like outside of work. In just a fortnight, he'd seemed to have almost had a personality transplant. The weight of the world seemed to have lifted off his shoulders and it suited him a lot. Carefully, she pushed the pot of food to one side, wanting to check her e-mails before she finished eating when she heard a yelp from the bullpen. Pushing herself to her feet and wincing at the strain in her shoulder, she ran to see Jane staring at the couch as if it had done something horribly wrong.

"What's wrong, Jane?"

"Somebody else has sat on my couch."

end


End file.
